Shinobi Among Mages
by AnimeNerdYuki235
Summary: Oración Seis has been defeated, but yet another Dark Guild suddenly makes its appearance. Their mages wield strange powers, but no one knows where they came from. What's their objective? And are the 'mages' of Konoha truly evil? Fighters clash, and war seems inevitable. This story is the continuation of Dark Guild Konoha/Troubles Never Cease which is now adopted by me.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, Yuki here bringing you all a story that needs to be continued. This story was originally** **Dark Guild Konoha and I couldn't help but enjoy the story. Now the story had been passed off to different authors and now it's with me so I'll do my best to continue this great story also I wanted to tell you all that some of the chapters will be the same but others will be slightly different than what was originally written. So with that said and done, it's time for this story to begin!**

 _Prologue_

 _It was a beautiful day in the city of Magnolia. The sun was shining and a slight breeze moved the few visible clouds across the sky. In other words, it was excellent weather for another party at "Fairy Tail", one of the biggest and without a doubt one of the strongest magic guilds of the country. And while celebrating parties was no rare occurrence for the fun loving guild members, this party was different. It was a party for the return of the chosen mages that had been selected to defeat the Dark Guild of Oración Seis, a guild of outlawed mages. Even though they had only possessed six members, their power had equaled that of an army. But even though these six members possessed incredible strength, they ultimately fell before the combined powers of Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus and Cait Shelter. But after the battle it had been revealed that the guild called Cait Shelter was nothing but the remains of a long lost civilization the strongest mage had kept alive for the sake of a single girl called Wendy. When they had vanished, the mages of Fairy Tail had offered the girl a place on their guild, an offer she happily accepted. But every party must come to an end sometime. And little did the members of Fairy Tail now that with the return of their strongest mage the news of an even greater threat would be revealed._

 _This is where our story starts…_

 ** _The Man Called "Maelstrom"_**

Lucy, a blond haired young woman and the resident Celestial Spirit mage of Fairy Tail had just entered the guild building when she saw Wendy sitting at one of the tables reading a book. She decided to talk with the young girl.

"How is it, Wendy? Are you getting used to the guild?" She asked with a friendly tone.

The young Sky Dragon Slayer looked up from her book and smiled at her friend. "Oh yes, it's really nice here." Wendy happily replied.

"I'm glad there's a girl's dorm." This came from Carla, a white and talking female cat wearing a dress. She was Wendy's oldest friend and trusted companion, just like Happy was for Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Speaking of which, why doesn't Lucy stay at the dorm?" Wendy asked curiously.

"I only heard of its existence recently." Lucy admitted with a defeated voice. "Plus the rent is so expensive. I wouldn't be able to afford it at the moment…" Lucy was silently shedding tears over this. Sometimes life really wasn't fair.

But just when the two of them wanted to continue their talk, they were interrupted by a shout of "Oh No!" and the sound of large bells ringing could be heard.

Lucy and Wendy looked around in confusion. They had no idea what this was all about until Natsu appeared from a corner of the guild along with some other mages. Apparently not everyone was completely clueless about the bells.

"When the bell is ringing this means-!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly. Even the normally stoic Gray was visibly excited, muttering a happy "Don't tell me" to himself. The people on the main street outside heard the bells as well, and they reacted immediately by retreating into their homes.

"Gildarts is back!" Natsu shouted, a wide grin spreading across his face. "He's back!" Happy added… well, happily.

"Gildarts?" Wendy asked, turning towards Lucy in the hope of answers.

The blond girl looked at Wendy with a mix of excitement and uncertainty. "I've never seen him before either… But they say he's the strongest mage in Fairy Tail!"

"Wow…" The young Dragon Slayer spoke. She was curious to see just what kind of person this Gildarts was. It was only now that the two of them noticed that everyone else in the guild had started celebrating like crazy.

"What's this about…? It's like it's a festival or something." Lucy muttered more to herself than anyone else. But Mirajane, a former S-Rank mage of the guild overheard her and answered her question.

"It can't be helped that they're excited Lucy. After all, it's been three years since Gildarts left." Mirajane said.

Lucy's eyes widen slightly. "THREE YEARS?! What's he been doing all that time?" Lucy shouted, unable to contain her surprise.

Mirajane only chuckled a little. "Work, of course! You know that there are SS-rank missions, which are even above the S-rank mission you went with Natsu, Grey and Erza a while back. And above that there are the so-called "10 Years Missions" which are SS-rank missions that haven't been completed for over ten years."

At this Lucy's eyes were already as wide as saucers, and the big end had yet to come.

"What Gildarts does is even above those. Gildarts is coming back from a '100 Years Mission'." Mirajane continued.

"A '100 Years Mission'…? Do you mean that this mission has been going on for the last one hundred years?!"

A rumble interrupted the group, when suddenly walls started to rise from the ground of the city along the main street. The people had already evacuated, so there was now one very wide road with high walls at the side connecting the city entrance with Fairy Tail.

"N-no way! What the hell is this?" Whenever Lucy thought Fairy Tail couldn't get any crazier, something like this happened.

"It's for safety measures." Mirajane said with her ever present smile. "Gildarts uses a magic that reduces everything he touches to rubble, so he sometimes smashes public property when he's not paying attention."

"Whoa, that's amazing, isn't it Charle?" Wendy asked with starts shining in her eyes.

"Yeah, amazingly stupid." The blue cat muttered. In her opinion most of Fairy Tail's mages were lunatics, a statement most people would tend to agree with.

Soon, a figure could be seen approaching the guild. The form of a large man wrapped in a tattered black cloak and with a duffle bag slung over his shoulders came into view, and happy exclamations of "Here he is" and "He's really back" could be heard coming from the guild members.

Then they could finally see the strongest mage of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive. He was at least six feet tall, dwarfing most of the other guild members. His deep brown hair was spiked backwards and a short beard covered the lower half of his face. A face that currently held a heavy scowl.

The man walked into the guild and looked around, his scowl only deepening. "Welcome back." Mirajane cheerfully greeted, not disturbed the slightest by the expression on Gildart's face. The man approached Mirajane and looked at her with rather dismissing eyes.

"Jou-chan, I'm pretty sure that there was a guild called Fairy Tail somewhere around here…"

"You're right there. This is Fairy Tail. I'm Mirajane."

The man only raised an eyebrow. "Mira…?"

Suddenly, his whole personality did a completely 180. His eyes widened and a remarkably stupid grin spread across his face as he looked between Mirajane and the guild with the eyes of a child in a toy store.

"You look so different! And the guild's been renovated!"

Lucy only sweatdropped at that remark since she couldn't believe the supposedly strongest mage of Fairy Tail had missed the gigantic sign at the front of the building. The happy reunion was interrupted when suddenly Natsu charged at Gildarts while loudly shouting "Gildarts!"

The man looked up and immediately recognized the familiar patch of pink hair. "Oh! Natsu! Long time no see."

"Fight me Gildarts!"

The mage known as Salamander swung a fist at the cloak wearing new comer, but it never connected. With a grin Gildarts just swatted at Natsu and sent him straight into the ceiling while saying "Maybe later Natsu", much to the shock of a certain stellar spirit. It was rare to see Natsu so heavily outclassed. But Natsu wasn't offended the slightest. A look of pure admiration could be seen on the young man's face. "Y-you're so strong."

"You haven't changed old man." Gray greeted. Elfman, Mirajane's younger brother, also couldn't help but to welcome the long lost mage. "You're a real man!" And that meant something coming from Elfman.

"Well, there are some faces I've never seen before… This place has changed a lot." Gildarts said while looking at the present guild members and the new building alike. Nevertheless a true smile spread across his face.

"Gildarts."

The brown haired mage turned around and his eyes widened in surprise. "Master!"

Makarov, the guild master of Fairy Tail sat on his usual place on the counter. His normal fun loving self was replaced by the man who had earned his title as one of the strongest mages alive. With a serious expression he looked at Gildarts.

"How was the mission?" He simply asked.

Gildarts sheepishly scratched the back of his head with his right hand while laughing loudly.

"Sorry, it was a failure. I'm not good enough for it."

Everyone in the guild besides the master was stunned. Just what was the "100 Years Mission" that even the strongest member of Fairy Tail could not successfully complete it?

"I see… so even you couldn't do it." Makarov said quietly while looking down, apparently in deep thought.

"Sorry for leaving a stain on your name." Gildarts apologized. He felt genuinely sorry for failing his guild.

But Makarov just shook his head. "Don't worry about that. It's good to see you came back unharmed. As far as I know you're the first person to come back from it."

Gildarts sighed, happy that he had been forgiven. But when he spoke up again, he became all serious again. "Master… While I'd like to go home and rest for now, there's something I need to tell you. Something of great importance."

Everyone in the guild perked up at this. What could the strongest mage of Fairy Tail be talking about that even he considered it important enough to wait no longer than necessary to tell the master?

"When I was on my way back to the guild, I found a battlefield. Apparently someone had been hired to exterminate a demon tribe that had settled in the area. When I reached the site, the whole tribe had already been wiped out by one person. A young boy, probably not even 16 years old had done it all by himself. And the magic I felt on the battlefield made even me feel weary of this person."

If everyone was stunned from the "100 Year Mission", they were completely flabbergasted by this revelation. A boy strong enough to make Gildarts weary? That was indeed rare. The master, however, remained calm and merely raised an eyebrow.

"And? We both know that there are a handful of mages just as strong as you, perhaps even stronger. Who was it anyway? He should have been easy to identify if he was so young."

"That's the problem Master. I didn't recognize him. Nor was he on any of the wanted lists. I checked every possible resource I could find. No one has ever seen this mage before. And the damage he caused rivaled my own magic. To say I was intrigued would be an understatement. I tried talking to him, wanted to know what guild he was from. And this is the news I have for you."

Gildarts' voice was dead serious. "I have confirmed the existence of the Dark Guild 'Konoha'."

At this revelation, even the master couldn't keep his cool. The eyes of the old man widened and the grip on his walking stick hardened so much that his knuckles turned white. With a tone that almost bordered on a light panic attack he asked Gildarts how sure he was of this.

"I am afraid it IS true. The young man called himself 'Maelstrom' and wore a headband with a leaf insignia engraved on it. His movements were those of an experienced warrior. As for his battle prowess…"

Gildarts reached into his duffle back and pulled out a roughly two feet long package out of it and tossed it to the master who immediately unraveled it. Inside were the remains of a human arm. The sight made some of the guild members with a weaker stomach want to throw up, and even Erza, the battle-hardened warrior visibly paled at the sight.

"I was too reckless. I had just returned from the failed mission and wanted to lessen my shame by capturing one of Konoha's mages. However, I severely underestimated the boy. When I challenged him we were on equal footing for a while, even though my wounds from the mission had not yet healed. Thus I realized he was holding back. He didn't want to hurt me, but when I started getting serious, so did he. He caught me off guard, and I paid for it with my arm. With a single attack… he made sure that my left arm would never be able to use magic again. I had to sever it before the infection spread, the attack was that dangerous."

When Makarov carefully investigated the arm, the silence in the room finally broke. Loud chatter erupted and everyone wanted to know just what this Dark Guild "Konoha" was.

"Master, what is this 'Konoha' guild you're talking about? I've never heard of them before." Mirajane asked, voicing everyone's opinion on this. Even Natsu, who had finally dislodged himself from the ceiling, was curious.

Makarov sighed heavily as he returned the arm to Gildarts after re-wrapping it. "Well, 'Konoha' is the name of a rumored guild that is said to have appeared around a year ago. At first no one truly knew of their existence. It only became known to certain high ranking mages when scouts discovered a forest where no forest should have been. The scouts entered the forest but they were attacked by highly skilled combat mages. Only one of the scouts survived to tell the tale, while the rest was mercilessly defeated and killed. While no one knew anything about the combat mages or why they had attacked the scouts, the survivor had managed to secure an object: a headband with a leaf insignia. Ever since this day the rumors of Konoha have become more and more frequent, but without any other true sightings, the rumors stayed rumors. No one ever managed to penetrate the forest since strong illusionary spells had been casted upon it by an unknown source, hiding the very location of the forest from even the eyes of our best mages. Thus the forest has been named as the 'Forest of Haze', and no mage was allowed to approach it without permission from the council."

The old mage looked at the gathered mages of his guild. "But now that Gildarts has seen another member of them, we can only assume that Konoha DOESexist, and that they are on the move. I'll have to report this. I wouldn't be surprised if soon another joint mission comes up. That's why every member of Fairy Tail should remain alert! And by no means are you to attack those bearing the leaf insignia. Is this understood?"

"YES MASTER!" The gathered mages shouted in unison. But some of them weren't that uninterested in meeting one of these so-called "Konoha" mages. Especially Natsu, who was always eager to test his strength against new opponents, couldn't wait to meet a mage who made even the master and Gildarts cautious. Erza was preparing herself for the inevitable. She knew that in the case of another joint mission, she would be sent along. And if she was going to fight a mage on the level of Gildarts… she had to be prepared.

The news Fairy Tail had received had spread like a wildfire. Soon the other guilds heard of it, and not even three days later the high council had gathered to discuss the matter. Little did they know that in a hazy forest things were also getting interesting

XxBreakxX

Behind an imposing desk sat a lone man with silver-grey hair that seemed to defy gravity. The lower half of his face was covered by a black face mask. A black headband with a metal plate was wrapped around his head in a way that covered his left eye as well, leaving only his right eye visible. Said right eye was currently close in deep thought. The silver haired cyclops addressed the other man in the room. He stood on the other side of the desk and had short brown hair. His face was framed by a metallic construct that replaced that standard headband. Both the men were wearing a green flak jacket with a red swirl on the back, a clear sign that they belonged to the same military.

"So they finally found out, eh?"

"I am afraid so, Hokage-sama. But it was only a matter of time. We needed the income, and all our members can only hide for so long. We need the money since our economy is still adjusting to the recent… changes. But I am sure that as long as our barrier masters can uphold the illusion we will be safe." The young man answered.

The one addressed as "Hokage-sama" sighed heavily. He never should have accepted this job. But alas, it was better him than Danzo.

"But we should recall our forces for now, as we can't risk one of them getting captured. We do not know the full extent of the abilities our possible enemies possess. I'll trust you with this mission. You are to leave immediately." The one eyed man held up a file. "In this file is a list of the shinobi currently outside. Gather them all before you return and don't send them back one by one. It might be more dangerous to travel in a larger group, but I don't want to take any chances. Dismissed."

The brown haired man vanished and left the other man to sigh rather loudly once again. It was nothing short of a miracle the village hadn't collapsed by now, after all what had happened. The attack of the Akatsuki Leader Pein, and afterwards –

The Hokage interrupted this line of thought. Dwelling on the past would do him no good at this point. A knock could be heard from the door, and after a soft "Enter", it opened.

In came a beautiful young woman with short pink hair, dressed in a sleeveless red shirt and black formfitting pants. Striking green eyes looked at the man behind the desk.

"Hokage-sama, I've heard you are recalling the reconnaissance shinobi you sent out. Why is that? Has something happened?"

The silver haired man looked at the pink-haired girl with a slightly drooped eye. "How many times do I have to tell you Sakura? You don't have to call me 'Hokage-sama', it makes me feel old."

The pink haired girl called Sakura just laughed. "Sorry Kakashi-sensei, but sometimes I just can't resist. But anyways, what's Yamato-san's mission about?"

"I'm afraid the existence of our village has been discovered after all. It was only a matter of time, really, but I had hoped Konoha would remain secret for just a while longer. We can't let the secrets of our village get revealed to the world. The Magic Council would either exploit us in any way they can or exterminate us. Unfortunately, the rumors of the Dark Guild 'Konoha', as they call us, have been proven as correct. As far as the reports say, a mage of Fairy Tail has spotted one of our shinobi exterminating a pack of demons. I just hope Yamato can gather them before they are attacked by those so called 'guilds'. Some of their mages possess abilities that even Kage level shinobi cannot perform, although they are normally very specialized and physically weak. But regardless, the last thing we need is an all-out war with the mages of this country."

Sakura's mood instantly dropped when Kakashi spoke about the possibility of a war. It was only natural, the invasion of Pein was still fresh in her mind, and some of her closest friends were out there and far away from the safety of the village.

"Who sent you the message Kakashi-sensei? The one the mages spotted is in the most dangerous position of our shinobi, and if it's someone who isn't suited for fighting large groups – "

The famous eye-smile of Kakashi appeared. "Don't worry, Sakura. We had at least some luck considering just who they saw. They spotted the strongest of the shinobi we sent out, and the only person from the village who could best me in a battle."

Sakura looked up. "You mean - ?"

"Yes. It's time for Naruto to come home." In thoughts however, Kakashi added something that just wouldn't disappear from his mind. "I just hope Naruto doesn't do anything stupid until Yamato finds him… Knowing him, he could directly march into the enemy's stronghold without even noticing it."

The wind blew gently across the lands as a single person walked down the road. His crimson red cloak with black flames at the bottom occasionally flapped when a strong gust of wind came up. The black and orange overall under the cloak was slightly worn out from the long travelling. Spiky blond hair partially covered his black headband now since he hadn't gotten the time to cut his hair lately. His cerulean blue eyes observed everything around him, nothing escaping his gaze. But the most striking feature of this young man was the three whiskers like scars he had on each of his cheeks.

This young man was one of the strongest shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village and the new Toad Sage of Mount Myobokuzan. His name? Naruto Uzumaki, the son of the Fourth Hokage, and apprentice to Jiraiya of the Sannin.

The young sage had continued to travel across the lands after running into a mage from the famous gild Fairy Tail. Absentmindedly the blonde shinobi flexed his left hand, which was tightly wrapped in bandages. The bandages were red at some spots and indicated that the wounds had been bleeding heavily when he had treated himself. That mage had been strong, and considering just how hurt he had been…

 _"I guess I'm lucky I had the advantage. If we had both been fully healed, none of us would have walked away with so little injuries. In fact, I'm sure that I might have been forced to kill him if I wanted to survive… But then again, that's without calculating in the Kyuubi's powers."_ Naruto thought to himself.

"Oi, Naruto!" A voice suddenly called out.

Naruto turned around. The person knew his name, and considering that Naruto had failed to sense the person's presence, it was probably a ninja. Thus he didn't have to take a fighting stance. The only ninja in the area were the shinobi from Konoha. Naruto sighed. Would they ever be able to return home? The red cloaked shinobi was forced to interrupt his musings when the unknown person got closer. A small cloud of dust rose from the ground, and the newcomer waved at Naruto lazily.

The person in front of Naruto was a young man with black hair which was pulled backwards in a single short ponytail, a style that had earned him the nickname "pineapple head". A lazy expression seemed to be permanently etched onto his face, and the almost never smiling mouth currently held a still smoking cigarette between its lips.

"Hey Shikamaru, fancy meeting you here. What are you doing here anyways? I thought you were sent farther to the east?" Naruto asked.

The young man named Shikamaru took a deep breath from his cigarette and calmly exhaled the smoke, but remained considerate enough not to blow the smoke into Naruto's face.

"I was, but once I had finished I decided to look for the others. I have some unpleasant news I'm afraid." Shikamaru answered.

Naruto looked defeated. "Great, more bad news? Kakashi-sensei is going to have a heart attack if it goes on like that. It's bad enough the guilds discovered our existence because I ran into one of Fairy Tail's mages…"

Shikamaru groaned and covered his face with his left hand. Some days you really should stay in bed. "Troublesome… Just what we need. I've found out that a group of selected mages recently defeated Oración Seis, one of the strongest Dark Guilds in the area… And with them gone, they're free to concentrate on us. Really, just great."

He took another calming breath of his tobacco stick and exhaled loudly. Naruto just looked at his comrade with sympathy. Naruto knew that Shikamaru had recently been promoted to the position of the second chief strategist in the ninja forces, and he was only on this mission because the paperwork hadn't been processed yet. Shikamaru was no frontline fighter; his family's special techniques were for support and delay tactics, not direct combat. Yet Shikamaru had an unrivalled analytical mind, a mind so great it allowed him to fight even S-rank criminals on equal grounds.

"So, what should we do? Should we try to find the others? The messenger toad I sent to Kakashi-sensei told me that he would send someone to gather us, but if we work together it should go faster."

Shikamaru thought about Naruto's suggestion for a minute. "No, we should remain at a fixed location for now. Yamato is no tracker, and even if he finds Neji first his chances of finding us will shrink if we're on the move. Besides, we have no idea just exactly WHERE the others are. We were only told the quadrants we'd be operating in, remember Naruto?"

The blond shinobi grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. What could he say? He was no thinker. Sure, he could come up with amazing strategies in battle, but those were mostly spur of the moment things. He was glad Shikamaru was good at these things.

"I guess we should head to the next town then. Any idea how far it is?" Shikamaru asked.

"Eh, I'm not sure… I think the next town is only two to three hours away though." Naruto answered.

Shikamaru rolled with his eyes. "Troublesome… Have you still not memorized your area? Where's your map? Do you at least know what the city's called?"

Naruto's face crunched in concentration. "I lost the map in the battle… but I think it was called… Magagolia, or something."

"… I guess that's at least better than nothing. Any known magic guilds there?" Shikamaru asked.

"Uh… I don't… think so?" Naruto answered hesitantly. He really should have studied the map better beforehand. Every shinobi only had a small but accurate map of the areas they were assigned to. Thus Shikamaru had to trust Naruto for this.

"… Fine then. Lead the way."

Little did the two shinobi know that Naruto had just started leading them to the very town where the most notorious guild of Earthland resided: Magnolia. And neither did the mages of Fairy Tail know what kind of trouble was heading their way.

And Yamato was still far away. And back in Konoha, Kakashi felt a shiver run down his spine. He really hated having accepted this job sometimes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright guys, here the next chapter for this story. Now I just wanted to tell you all that there will be pairings in this story but here's the thing, you all can suggest what the pairings should be. So you can either Pm me or post a review on what you want as a shipping, if it's the most common one requested then that shall be the ship of the story.**

 ** _Chapter 2: Anima_**

Deep in thought, Sakura walked through the village. The people were like always, chattering, laughing… living. Everything looked like it always did, and yet so many things had changed ever since that fateful day.

The day Pain, leader of the Akatsuki and wielder of the legendary Rinnegan, had attacked the village of Konoha. He had come like the wind, completely unexpected, and had attacked them without mercy. A whole ninja village, the strongest of the five, had been unable to defeat a single man. Well, considering that Pain had used several dead bodies that point was debatable. And yet… Sakura shuddered when she remembered the pure, unadulterated power the man had possessed. With but a single gesture the whole village had been reduced to nothing but rubble.

And then he had come. Naruto. Her teammate and best friend, though she would never say that out loud. He had done what had seemed impossible. He had defeated the man who had called himself a god. A man, who had wielded what almost, appeared like the powers of an actual god.

"Sakura? Are you alright?" A voice asked in a worried tone.

Sakura's head shot up when she realized that someone was talking to her. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't even been looking where she was going. When Sakura looked up she saw a by now familiar face. Not that there many people with blue hair in Konoha anyways.

"Are you not well, Sakura? You seem a little distressed." She pointed out.

Sakura smiled a little. Who would have thought that she would talk to this person one year ago? So much had happened since this day…

"No, I'm alright. But thanks for your concern… Konan."

 ** _With Natsu_**

"I'm bored…" Natsu complained loudly. His head rested on the table while an occasional sigh escaped his lips.

The Dragon Slayer of Fire sat at a table in the Fairy Tail building together with Lucy, Gray, Juvia and Wendy. The Celestial Spirit Mage sighed, annoyance evident on her face.

"Drop it Natsu, and for the last time we are not going out to look for a member of Konoha. The Master forbid it, remember?" Lucy said, earning another sigh from the Dragon Slayer.

"She's right Natsu." Gray, the ice mage of Fairy Tail, added. "We barely won against Oración Seis. You shouldn't be so eager to throw your life away."

"… At least I'm not throwing my clothes away." Natsu muttered. Everyone turned their heads to look at Gray, who was, once again, clad in only his boxers. They no longer wondered about it. Craziness was apparently one of the criteria to join Fairy Tail.

"Crap! I did it again. Oh well, it's not like I care about it anyways…" Gray shouted as he tried to find his clothes.

"I don't care what Gramps said! I wanna fight some strong guys, and that Maelstrom guy was just as strong as Gildarts! And if I beat him, everybody would be happy, too." Natsu had raised his head from the table and looked at his friends. At least he wasn't sulking anymore.

"I wonder about that…" Lucy muttered. "I mean, what do we know about Konoha anyways? What have they done to be considered as a Dark Guild? Exterminating demons doesn't really sound evil if you ask me."

The group hmm-ed collectively. It was Wendy who spoke up again first. "Well, we do know that some of them killed the scouts that had entered the forest. And that 'Maelstrom' person really hurt Gildarts. If they were good guys they wouldn't do things like that."

"Not necessarily. Juvia knows that sometimes you are forced to do things you don't like to do. Perhaps they had no choice." Juvia added.

"Yeah, but still, you don't have to kill people just because you don't want them to go somewhere Juvia…" Lucy answered hesitantly. It was hard to say someone was evil when you knew next to nothing about them.

Silence returned to their table, a stark contrast to the rest of the guild which was bristling with excitement. Though there were occasional discussions about Konoha, most mages had decided to drop the matter. The Master had said not to interfere, and he wouldn't tolerate anything else. And yet every one of them had the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time they had heard from this mysterious Dark Guild.

 ** _With Sakura_**

Konan had taken Sakura to a small dango stand so the two of them could have something to eat. Once they had ordered, the two of them had chosen to sit on a bench in a nearby park. It was still a little strange for Sakura to walk or even talk with the former S-rank missing-nin. But despite the prejudice and ill will Konan had received when she had first come to the village, the paper master had preserved and had slowly been accepted. Of course Konan was no longer walking around in her black Akatsuki cloak. She had that much common sense luckily.

Instead she now wore a short blue combat kimono with metallic bracers on her shins and forearms. Around her left arm was a forehead protector, but it didn't bear the leaf symbol. It was a scratched Ame forehead protector, the same she had been carrying ever since she had joined the Akatsuki. And just like Naruto would always keep the forehead protector he had received from Iruka, so would Konan keep the forehead protector she had gotten together with Nagato and Yahiko.

"What were you thinking about, Sakura? You looked like you were lost in your own little world." Konan asked the pink haired shinobi.

Sakura turned to Konan and hesitated a bit. She had gotten to know the origami ninja through Naruto after the whole "Earthland Disaster" as it had been dubbed. Sure, they somehow got along, but Sakura still had a little trouble being open around the elder ninja.

"Well, I've just been… thinking. About Konoha. Everyone acts like nothing is wrong. But how can they? We're not even in the same world anymore!" Sakura complained before continuing. "We're trapped in this stupid forest like caged animals, and the only time shinobi are allowed to leave is when they go on scouting and income missions… Neither of which I'm actually suited for."

Konan simply nodded, her features as cool as always. "I can understand your worries, but look a little closer, Sakura. The people are not ignoring the fact that they are trapped in a different dimension far from home. They just try to put the fear behind them, to assure their loved ones that everything is alright, because if everyone was constantly worrying, the fear of the unknown would never leave their hearts."

Sakura thought of Konan's words and looked up at the blue sky. It looked just like the sky at home. And yet it was so different. Sakura was unable to keep the sadness she felt out of her vice. "Konan… Do you think we'll ever return home? Do you really think we'll find a way to summon this gigantic magic once again?"

"I honestly don't know, Sakura-san. But let's just believe that Naruto will find a way. If anyone can save this village, it's him. He already did it once, didn't he? Just like he saved Nagato…" Konan replied before a certain voice came into her head.

 _"I… will believe in you...Naruto Uzumaki."_

Nagato's voice had been raspy and weak. But the eyes of the Sage of Six Path's descendant had never been fuller of life. A technique that surpassed even the boundaries of life and death… That was the true extent of Nagato's power. But it came had come at a heavy price. Nagato had already been exhausted when he had used his powers to restore the lives of the Konoha citizens he had killed. Perhaps it had been the same power that had attracted the giant vortex in the sky that had appeared shortly afterwards. Konan had been headed towards Amegakure to bury Nagato and Yahiko when it appeared.

The space-time magic, Anima.

No one in the Elemental Nations had ever seen something like this. And Konoha had still been in complete disarray when it had struck. Even Konan and Naruto, who had been a few miles away from the city, had been sucked in, just like the ninja who were on their way back to Konoha. But what was Anima? And why had it taken them to this strange world? In the year the shinobi had been stuck in Earthland, all they had managed to find out was a name. But what was its purpose? Where did it come from? And who controlled it? These questions had been put on a hold for a while. After the initial confusion, a new Hokage had to be elected since Tsunade had been in a coma at the time. Konan was sure, if the old war hawk Danzo had been elected, she wouldn't be here now. But she had been lucky. Without the daimyo, the jonin had voted, and since they had been facing an unknown crisis they didn't want to trust an old man who might just die before the village was completely rebuilt.

The first weeks had been tough. They had hidden the village in a forest the only Mokuton user of Konoha had created (a feat that had left him exhausted for a week), and the spies they had sent out had soon discovered that they were no longer in the Elemental nations; that not shinobi, but mages were fulfilling most of the jobs ninja did where Konoha had come from.

Konan had been placed under arrest due to her connection with the Akatsuki, but since Naruto had stood up for her, they hadn't treated her too badly (especially since every strong ninja was more than welcome given the new circumstances). After all, even though the whole village had just been sucked through a gigantic portal in the sky didn't change the fact that Naruto had saved the village from Pain, and heroes tend to have some privileges. It had taken a lot of effort for the villagers and shinobi to rebuild their homes, but thanks to a certain wood user it had gone faster than normally. And just when Kakashi had decided to send out emissaries to the cities of their new "home", disaster had struck.

Danzo's private army, ROOT, had assassinated some people who had been trying to scout the new forest. The situation had turned from bad to grave. There was no way a government would trust an unknown militia after that stunt. Kakashi had tried to have Danzo arrested, but the old veteran had managed to slip away, taking at least two dozen ROOT ninja along with him. No one knew where he was hiding now, but they doubted they had seen him for the last time. But the damage was already done. Kakashi, the Sixth Hokage, had been forced to order their barrier master to cast an incredibly strong illusion over the village and the forest, making it impassable for any outsider. It had worked so far, but without any income they would have been unable to afford seeds and livestock. Thus they had begun to send out undercover shinobi. They took missions normally reserved for mages, but they had to be careful. Too many shinobi popping up at the same time were bound to attract attention.

It had worked fine so far. That is, until Sakura told Konan that Naruto had managed to get their cover blown.

"I wonder what the future holds… If things take a turn to the worse, there will be a war. Kakashi-sensei said that while we hold the advantage in numbers, this only applies as long as we face about two or three guilds. If the whole magic force of the country attacks us, we're toast. Some of the mages here are on a level comparable to a Sannin!" Sakura explained. She had tried to hide it, but she was really worried, especially since some of her friends were still out there.

"I'm afraid there isn't much we can do, Sakura. The magic council wouldn't simply accept us as a normal guild, especially when they hear that we're basically assassins. A lifelong imprisonment would probably be the best outcome, and if we choose to fight, we'll just become what everyone else already thinks we are. And… once blood has been spilt, the hatred will grow. This is the vicious cycle of war Nagato had tried to end…"

The two kunoichi continued to sit on the bench, their thoughts focused on the unknown future. Would Konoha be alright? Would they ever find a way home, or was this where Konoha would finally fall?

"Please be alright, Naruto." Sakura whispered softly. After all, in times like these, a hero was needed more than anything.

 ** _With Naruto_**

"Finally, we're here! I hadn't thought my guess would be THAT far off…" Naruto shouted as he stretched his arms.

"Naruto… If, and that's a very big if, we ever go on another mission together… I will never allow you to contribute anything to the mission but the fulfillment of your orders. Is. That. Clear?" Shikamaru said.

Two figures stood at the gates of the lively town of Magnolia. While one of them had sun-kissed blond and spiky hair, the other one had black hair that was held up in a single, thick ponytail, giving his head the appearance of a pineapple. And currently, the one with the pineapple hairdo was seriously pissed. His companion had said that the city they had just reached was perhaps three or four away. Oh, they would have reached the city in that time… if they were as fast as the Fourth Hokage, the "Yellow Flash" of Konoha. It had taken them six hours of almost non-stop running to reach the city of Magnolia, and Shikamaru was more than slightly pissed that Naruto had no idea about the geography of his assigned area.

"Hey, I already said I was sorry. Besides, I never had to plan things like that! Pervy Sage was the one who did the planning. I just tagged along on the training trip!" Naruto explained, hoping that would calm down his friend.

Shikamaru merely let out a sigh. "Ugh, just stop being so troublesome and let's find a place where we can get something to eat. I'm starving."

"Another reason why I want to get home. Now the only place where I can get ramen is in Konoha. Ah, sweet Ichiraku Ramen… How long has it been?" Naruto asked himself out loud.

Shikamaru delivered a light punch to the back of Naruto's head, returning the Toad Sage's consciousness from his dream world back to reality.

"Quit it Naruto. Seriously, this no longer a case of 'liking' the food, you're addicted." Shikamaru pointed out.

The two shinobi began their search for a restaurant or at least a market where they would be able to buy something to fill their growling stomachs. But since they didn't want to draw attention to themselves they had to do it normally, and that took its time. Unfortunately their search proved rather fruitless, and after half an hour of searching they were still as hungry as before.

"Shikamaru… I can't take this anymore… I'm starving." Naruto whined.

Shikamaru's eye brow twitched slightly when he heard Naruto's whining. "You're not the only one who's hungry Naruto, so quit your whining. This is getting troublesome… Where the hell can we find something to eat in this town?"

Naruto's and Shikamaru's silent prayers were answered in the form of what Naruto would later describe as "a silver haired angel carrying salvation bringing food at the side of a demon".

Translated, this meant that Mirajane and her younger brother Elfman were currently walking down the street with their hands bags filled with food. The guild had run out of some supplies, and since Mirajane was the one responsible for the bar, she had volunteered to do some grocery shopping. Elfman, who would never allow a woman to do the man's job of carrying the heavy bags, accompanied her. Thus an interesting meeting was about to happen.

"Shikamaru! Do you see that! Food! There IS food in this town!" Naruto exclaimed exuberantly. His mouth had already begun to water when his eyes fell on some noodles he spotted in one of the bags.

Mirajane and Elfman were quite confused at the sight. They had never seen those two young men, but they were obviously hungry. Being the kind-hearted soul she was, Mirajane approached the two of them, choosing to talk to the one who was not dancing a "happy dance".

"Um, excuse me, but are you two alright? You seem to be lost. My name is Mirajane, and you are?" Mirajane asked.

Shikamaru eyed the young woman in front of him carefully. His sharp mind analyzed both her and the intimidating looking man behind her. Said man was eyeing the two shinobi as well. It was clear that he would protect the woman if anything happened, his body language was as clear as day for Shikamaru. But why did the two of them set off so many alarm bells in the back of Shikamaru's head?

"The name's Shikamaru, and well, we're not really lost… We just got here and were looking for something to eat, but our search proved rather fruitless till now… And just ignore Naruto over there. He gets a little weird without his noodle soup." Shikamaru said as he pointed towards the blond shinobi.

"Well, my brother and I just came back from shopping. Why don't you come with us to our guild? I'm sure the Master wouldn't mind if you two just ate a meal there." Mirajane offered with a kind smile.

And now Shikamaru's danger sense had just gone into overdrive. A guild! The two of them were mages. That was why he had felt so uncomfortable! They hadn't noticed yet that he and Naruto were from Konoha. Now, if Shikamaru could just talk him and his partner out of this situation…

"Really, we can get food?! Awesome! Let's go Shikamaru! And thank you so much Mirajane-chan! How can we ever repay you?" Naruto asked with a jump. Naruto had landed between Mirajane and Shikamaru, smiling at the silver haired woman with the deepest gratitude he could muster. Mirajane smiled in return and looked at the blond sunshine called Naruto… And immediately froze when she saw the headband with the leaf symbol, hidden behind the blond haired boy's locks.

 _'_ _They're from Konoha!'_ Mirajane mentally cried out.

Elfman saw his sister freeze and noticed it as well. He wasted no time and leapt at the blonde, his right arm already transforming into that of a mighty beast's. Naruto almost missed the attack since he wasn't prepared for an assault, but his honed ninja reflexes kicked in at the last second, making him dodge the attack with a back flip.

"Hey, what was that for?! Are you crazy or something?" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Silence you villain! A man should never do evil! I, Elfman of Fairy Tail, will punish you!" Elfman answered loudly. The thought that his opponent could be very dangerous or that the master had forbidden them to engage any members of Konoha in combat was promptly forgotten.

"Seriously, just what the hell is wrong with this guy?!" Naruto shouted while dodging Elfman's monstrous fists. Without Sage Mode, his punches weren't nearly as effective as this guy's, and while Naruto had discovered that he could keep Sage Mode longer in this world, it also took longer to synchronize for him. So that was pretty much impossible to do while dodging Elfman's furious fists. But while Elfman was stronger, Naruto was faster. The sage used his superior speed to kick his opponent in the back, sending him flying into, or rather through a house. Naruto wasted no time and hurried after his opponent, leaving Shikamaru to deal with Mirajane.

"Damn, we've attracted way too much attention…" Shikamaru muttered under his breath. Shortly after Elfman's outburst Mirajane had opted to attack him with pretty decent hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, the citizens had of course noticed the battle, and were fleeing the scene. This was bound to alert the other members of the guild in no time. Shikamaru calculated that they probably had less than five minutes before enemy reinforcements appeared.

After another clash, Shikamaru and Mirajane separated, the latter threateningly glaring at the lazy genius. "What do you want in this town, Konoha mages? Are you so arrogant that you think the two of you could take out the whole Guild of Fairy Tail?"

Shikamaru chuckled sheepishly as he placed his hand on the back of his hand. "To be honest, we just wanted to grab a bite. Naruto over there is pretty bad with memorizing a map though, so we had no idea that you guys were in this town… Now that I think about it, I'll have to make sure Naruto gets punished for being so stupid… Always dragging me into such messes…"

Mirajane was a little unsettled at how calm her enemy seemed. Was he that sure of his own strength, or was he trying to catch her off guard? Either way, the former S-Class Mage wouldn't let them get away. But it was too late; as Shikamaru had gathered the chakra he needed and only formed a quick handseal to use his technique on his unsuspecting victim.

"Shadow Possession, success." The black haired chunin smirked. His opponent hadn't noticed that he had positioned himself in front of the sun during their short fight. Now he only had to wait for Naruto to finish his opponent and then they could make their escape. Perhaps Naruto could summon a frog for them to flee with, even though it took almost twice the amount than back on their world. Well, at least it still worked at all.

"What kind of spell is this? I can't move at all!" Mirajane exclaimed. "Damn, I let my guard down! I hope Elfman is alright, his opponent looked more like a fighter than this one…" Looking for any way to escape the technique Mirajane looked frantically around, until her eyes saw something strange.

"Is this… a shadow?!" She questioned out loud.

"I'm not surprised you realized it this quickly. I can tell you have lots of battle experience." Shikamaru calmly said. "This 'spell' as you call it, is my family's special technique. Only the members of the Nara Clan know how to perform it. As for how it works… I'm not that stupid to actually explain you how it works. Let's just say I could do more than simply hold you, though I don't plan to use those techniques." Shikamaru really hoped she wouldn't see through his fake confidence. He could feel that this woman was way stronger than she looked, and if she got serious he'd be at a disadvantage, especially since he was no front fighter and this girl seemed to specialize in direct assaults.

"But I also know you're trying to think of a way to stall time long enough for your friends to arrive, and that you're probably considering using your full power to break through my shadow possession, but you're cautious since you don't know how strong I really am." Shikamaru pointed out.

Mirajane was shocked. This young man was reading her like an open book. Was this part of his magic too? She couldn't allow herself to look intimidated."So you're just planning on standing there... You seem pretty sure that your blond friend is able to beat my brother."

Shikamaru frowned. "I'm not sure that Naruto can beat your brother, I know he can. After all, he's one of the strongest warriors of Konoha. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him… Didn't one of your guild members fight with him?"

"One of our guild members…?" Mirajane asked out loud. Who could he be talking about? The answer hit her like a ton of bricks. There was only one mage of Fairy Tail who had fought against a wizard from Konoha. The words of Gildarts echoed through her mind as she realized the danger her brother was in.

 _"The young man called himself 'Maelstrom' and wore a headband with a leaf insignia engraved on it..."_

 _'_ _Naruto… Maelstrom… You can write the name with kanji for 'Maelstrom'. Does that mean that blond boy is the mage that took Gildarts' arm?!'_ Mirajane was horrified. Elfman might have gotten stronger, but he was nowhere ready to fight an opponent of that caliber.

And her horror only grew when Shikamaru chuckled. "That Naruto… He always tells us that his name doesn't mean 'fishcake', but 'maelstrom'. I guess that Gildarts person was the first one to actually understand the name correctly, and if my estimations are correct, said maelstrom should come back around… now."

Just as Shikamaru said the word "now", a wall beside Mirajane burst open and a large figure stepped through it. At first glance Mirajane thought that perhaps Elfman had managed to escape or even catch the blond by surprise, but her hopes quickly disappeared when she saw that it was not one large figure, but two, and the smaller one was carrying the larger one over his shoulder. Mirajane couldn't help but to fear for her brother when she stared at the mage called Maelstrom. His eyes… they had changed. They were no longer blue, but golden with long rectangular eye slits.

"You even used Sage Mode, Naruto? Was he that tough?" Shikamaru asked in surprise.

Naruto shook his head as he dropped Elfman to the ground. "Nah, I just wanted to conserve my energy. I had to use some clones, but I managed to go into Sage Mode before the guy could deal damage to me. His magic was kinda creepy though… I mean, first his arms mutated, and then the rest of his body as well! It was like the Cursed Seal all over again!"

"No time to complain Naruto, we have to get out of here. Their friends will probably arrive soon, and I can't hold my Shadow possession much longer. Please cover our escape, ok?" Shikamaru ordered.

"Yeah, yeah. Just because you're higher ranked than me doesn't mean you can order me around Shikamaru." Naruto muttered while preparing a Jutsu.

"Actually, it means just that Naruto, and for your idiocy alone I'm considering asking the Hokage to assign you D-rank missions for the next month." Shikamaru threaten with a smirk.

Naruto paled at that, making Mirajane wonder just what those two were talking about and who this "Hokage" person was. "You wouldn't… You would." Yes, sometimes Shikamaru could get really mean, especially when he had gotten into troublesome situations because of others.

"Hurry up Naruto. I won't be able to hold her much longer." Shikamaru urged.

The young sage finished gathering his chakra and prepared to bite his thumb so he could summon a toad, but things came differently. Just when Naruto was about to draw blood, he heard someone shouting.

"Ice Make: Geyser!"

Naruto and Shikamaru were forced to jump away when suddenly two huge pillars of ice erupted from the ground, forcing Shikamaru to release his Shadow Possession Jutsu. The blond shinobi was impressed. To create so much ice out of nothing, even Haku had been unable to do this without draining his reserves considerably. Apparently the reinforcements had arrived. Shikamaru cursed under his breath. They had been so close to getting away, but now they had attracted even more attention. The tactician looked at the newcomers.

There were four of them, not counting the flying blue cat. One was a girl with blond hair and a short ponytail she had on the left side of her head. She had hurried towards the woman Shikamaru had just released. The next two were both young men, one with black hair and clad only in his boxers, the other with… pink hair? Did Sakura have relatives here? However, it was the last one that caught Shikamaru's attention. Of course he had heard of the famous Fairy Tail, even if he hadn't known that they were located in this town. But it was only because of this woman he understood with which guild they were dealing.

Erza Scarlet. S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail, nicknamed "Titania".

"Naruto… I think we're in deep trouble this time. And just so you know, I blame you for this." Shikamaru stated, earning a confused expression from Naruto.

"Huh? Why?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth before turning to Naruto and shouted. "Because you've led us directly into the town of Fairy Tail for god's sake! And that one over there is Erza Scarlet, an S-Class Mage!"

Naruto flinched slightly when Shikamaru shouted but he was surprised when he heard what Shikamaru said. "What?! These guys are from Fairy Tail? No way!"

While the shouting between the two ninja continued, Lucy turned to Mirajane, who appeared a little worn out, but fine besides that. Elfman, who had by now been retrieved by Gray, looked much worse. It looked like the self-proclaimed "manliest" member of Fairy Tail had received quite a beating, and was still out cold.

"Mira, who are these guys? And what do they want? We heard the screaming and ran here as fast as we could, and some of the others should be here soon as well." Lucy asked Mira.

"Lucy, you have to be careful!" Mirajane urged her friend before talking to the rest of the group as well. "Those two are mages from Konoha, I saw the headband! And Natsu, Gray, Lucy. Don't fight the one in the orange cloak! He's the one who defeated Gildarts!"

This one sentence shocked everyone present. Erza swallowed nervously, but also calmed herself. She couldn't allow herself to show fear or hesitation. If worst came to worst, she would have to distract the two dark guild members so that the others would survive until the master or Gildarts arrived. She stepped forward, using her Requip magic to summon a large double-edged sword in her right hand.

"Everyone, stand back. I'll handle the blonde one. Natsu, Gray, I'd like you two to fight the other one. Lucy, I know you could help as well but I need you two protect Mirajane and Elfman. Mira cannot access all of her power yet." Erza ordered.

The three members of Fairy Tail nodded, Natsu and Gray stepping up besides Erza, while Happy quietly floated to Lucy.

"So you're those Konoha flunkies... I've been waiting for a chance to fight you guys!" Natsu exclaimed eagerly, a look of excitement clearly visible on his face.

"Calm down Natsu. We can't allow ourselves to be caught off guard." Gray said to his partner in crime. He was definitely the more level-headed one of the two.

Meanwhile, the two Konoha shinobi had also finished their little argument. Shikamaru rummaged through one of his pockets and fished out another cigarette, wasting no time to light it and take a deep breath of the calming smoke. Working with Naruto always increased his craving for the tobacco sticks.

"So damn troublesome… Looks like we'll have to fight our way out of this, Naruto. Well, at least they decided the match ups for us. Please hold back with your skills as much as possible though, we don't want to destroy this city after all."

Naruto simply nodded. He wished he could avoid fighting these guys, but they wouldn't believe them if they said that they weren't a dark guild. And thanks to Danzo's little scheme, they had already killed innocents in the eyes of the world. His golden eyes glared at the strongest female of Fairy Tail.

"Alright, let's do this!" Naruto and Natsu declared at the same time.

The Battle of Magnolia had begun.

 ** _Another Location_**

At the same time, several hundred miles away, the mage known as Mystogan silently walked through a field covered in mist. The cloak and bandana hid his face almost completely, leaving only his eyes visible. Suddenly, he stopped. He didn't move as he spoke.

"I see… so you're the disturbance I've felt. Who are you?" Mystogan asked out loud as he slightly turned his head towards a certain place.

A ripple spread across the empty space in front of the illusion using mage. The ripple then began to swirl, until it formed the silhouette of a man covered by the heavy fog.

"I'm impressed you managed to detect me… You're truly one of Fairy Tail's S-class mages, Mystogan… Or was it… Jellal?" A child-like voice said.

Mystogan narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" He said while one hand already gripped one of the staffs on his back.

"Who, little old me? I'm just an innocent passerby…" The voice replied in a childish manner.

The mist cleared slightly and Mystogan could for the first time clearly see this mysterious person. One thing would forever be burned into his mind.

A blood-red eye looking at him through an orange mask.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3: The Principle of Battle_**

The air was tense and heavy as the combatants were about to get started. On the one side were Naruto and Shikamaru, both of them wearing serious expression on their faces. They knew that since they were fighting in enemy territory, they had to be especially careful. There was no telling when another Fairy Tail member would join the battle.

"Shikamaru." The lazy genius turned his head to Naruto.

"I'll try to take the battle to the outside of the city. I won't be able to hold back enough that it won't damage the city and its people. You try and stay alive until I come back, ok?" Naruto suggested.

Shikamaru sighed loudly while exhaling the smoke of his cigarette. Nevertheless, he was smirking. "While I do dislike the idea of us splitting up, it's better if you can defeat 'Titania' as fast as possible. Luckily my techniques are meant to delay and stop opponents, but don't take too long, my cigarettes won't last if you fight her for the rest of the day."

The blonde shinobi nodded and gave his partner a thumbs-up. He understood what Shikamaru was really saying.

"Make sure you win. I'll keep your back free." They were comrades that had lived through more than one life and death battle together.

"Got it." Naruto said.

With a sudden burst of speed, Naruto turned around and raced down the street and out of the city, towards the slowly setting sun. Time was of the essence. Once it got dark, Shikamaru's abilities would be useless, and the black haired tactician had only a few hours left.

When Erza saw how Naruto hightailed out of Magnolia, she wasted no time to race after the blonde. For a moment she expected the smoker to interfere, but he didn't even glance at her when she rushed past him. His eyes were solely fixed on Natsu and Gray.

"Please be alright guys." Erza mentally prayed when she reached the city gates. In the distance she could see the orange cloak of "Maelstrom", the fabric fluttering through the wind that had picked up. The grip on her sword tightened when she reached him. Both of them stared at the other, sizing their opponent up.

Naruto was a little anxious. He was hungry and tired, plus he had been travelling for several hours before entering the city. Not the best conditions to fight another S-Class Mage, especially when he was still a little sore from fighting the last one. But this time he had been able to prepare himself. Unfortunately his Sage Mode would probably last for only another three minutes if he didn't replenish it, even with the high density of the natural energy surrounding him.

As a sage, Naruto had long since figured out the difference between mages and shinobi. Ninja combined both their physical and their mental energies to create chakra which powered their bodies and Jutsu. Mages on the other hand could draw on the magical energy from around them, essentially natural energy, and shape it through their own mental energy. This method was much more complicated than using chakra, but it was also less dangerous. A ninja who burned through all of his mental and physical energy would die, no matter what. Mages had to filter out the overpowering force of nature, but when mages exhausted their mental energies, they didn't risk their lives. They simply couldn't use spells anymore until they recovered.

This woman before him had more mental energy than some Jonin Naruto knew, and the way she moved told Naruto that she had experience using it. For the shortest moment Erza's image was replaced by another. Naruto shook his head, banishing the image of the woman with long scarlet hair and a gentle smile from his mind.

"I can't allow myself to get distracted, but damn! They really do look alike…" Naruto muttered.

A few yards away, Erza was wondering why her opponent was furiously shaking his head. Maybe he was still fatigued from the battle with Gildarts? It didn't matter. She had to capture this man, and if that was not possible, eliminate him. He was a member of a dark guild and was a threat to her friends.

"Mage of Konoha," Erza spoke up. "My name is Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail. As a mage I cannot allow an evil mage of a dark guild to remain free. I would ask you to surrender yourself, but judging by your actions I assume that this is not a possibility."

"I'm afraid you're right, Kakashi-sensei would have my head if I allowed myself to get captured. I don't want to fight you, I didn't want to fight that hobo-guy either, but he attacked me… I hate unnecessary bloodshed." Naruto answered.

Despite the serious situation, Erza sweatdropped. Hobo-guy? The blonde was apparently fearless if he called Gildarts, the one said to be the strongest wizard of Fairy Tail, a hobo… On the other hand, Gildarts was pretty laid back and didn't care much about nicknames. He'd probably think it was funny.

Titania regained her composure. "You say you dislike unnecessary bloodshed… Then why did your guild kill the scouts of the magic council without any reasons? No honorable person would allow such a thing."

Naruto, who was using the time he was not moving to refill his sage chakra, answered with only the barest amount of hope in his voice. "I guess you wouldn't believe me if I told you that that was all just one big misunderstanding?"

Erza's eyes narrowed. "No, I wouldn't."

"I was afraid you'd say so. Well, I guess there's no way to avoid this battle." Naruto said with a sigh. He raised his fists and assumed one of the stances of Kawazu Kumite, the style he had been taught by the Toad Elder Fukasaku.

"Let's go wild!" The Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox shouted as he charged the scarlet haired mage.

 ** _With Shikamaru_**

Shortly after Naruto's and Erza's departure, the laid back genius had been assaulted by both Natsu and Gray. Lucy had opted to stay by Mirajane's and Elfman's side for now, but the way she was grabbing her keys suggested that she would jump in and help her friends if the situation called for it. The strange blue cat had joined her, staring at the on-going battle with wide eyes.

"Troublesome… Those two are pretty good. Fire and ice in an almost perfect tandem… If I wasn't used to dodging things like that I'd have probably been grilled and frozen a dozen times over by now." Shikamaru thought while he was busy analyzing the styles of his opponents. While the pink haired Dragon Slayer was more of a close combat specialist, the Ice Mage was supporting him with long-distance attacks. Shikamaru began to worry a little when an ice arrow missed him only narrowly. They were getting used to his movements as well.

"Hey, stop running away and fight me you bastard!" Natsu shouted angrily. He had been looking forward to a tough battle, not a lazy guy who only kept on dodging his attacks.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Engulfing his fists in burning hot fire, Natsu charged his opponent once again. Shikamaru, who just stood still for a moment, smirked unbeknownst to his two opponents. Just when Natsu was about to hit him with his punch, Shikamaru brought his hands together and formed a seal. Gray noticed this and tried to warn his friend.

"Natsu! Watch out! He's planning something!" Gray cried out, but by then it was too late.

"Shadow Possession, success." The pineapple head muttered under his breath. Shikamaru then jumped backwards as did Natsu, who just muttered a surprised "Wha?!" before landing near Gray, who didn't know that the Dragon Slayer was now affected by Shikamaru's technique.

"Good job at dodging Natsu, I don't know what's planning but we shouldn't get too close to him." Gray said to his partner as he walked up to him.

"Gray, be careful I-!" Natsu began, but to his horror and Gray's surprise, Natsu's fist was suddenly buried in Gray's stomach, causing the Ice Mage to buckle over in pain. The pain was intense, and almost caused the black haired mage to miss the follow up attack from Natsu. Lucy was staring at the scene in shock. She was so busy figuring out what was wrong with Natsu that she didn't see how Shikamaru was performing remarkably similar attacks to Natsu, only that he seemed to battle thin air.

"Natsu! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Gray shouted angrily while both dodging Natsu's attacks and clutching his stomach. That blow had come out of the blue and had caught him completely off guard.

"I don't know what's wrong Gray! My body's moving on its own, I can't control it!" Natsu shouted, his expression a mixture of shock, confusion, and even a slight hint of fear.

It was then that Gray's eyes wandered to their enemy, and his guess was correct. He saw how the smoking mage was performing the same attacks as Natsu.

"What kind of magic is that?" Happy, the blue cat, asked in horror. Natsu and one of his best friends were fighting each other and thus had no chance to go after the true enemy.

"It's his shadow." Lucy and Happy looked back to Mirajane, who was leaning on a nearby wall. She was breathing hard. The battle must have taken more out of her than she had thought.

"What do you mean 'his shadow'? Is he using shadow magic?" Lucy asked.

Mirajane nodded. "Apparently he can use his shadow to connect it with his opponents. He used it to hold me down while the one called 'Maelstrom' was preparing their escape. Luckily you came or they would have gotten away."

"Do you know of any way to stop it Mira-san? Natsu and Gray need all the help they can get!" Lucy asked pleadingly.

The former S-Class Mage could only shake her head. "All I know is that the stronger the person is, the harder it gets to manipulate him. Considering the ease he's controlling Natsu with… this guy is really strong. But if Natsu and Gray can somehow cut him off from his light source, they might cause the shadow to vanish."

"That's it!" Lucy thought. She turned her head back to the battlefield, where Gray was fighting a losing battle. "Natsu! Quickly, shoot a fireball at the Konoha mage!"

The three fighters heard what Lucy shouted, and Natsu immediately began preparing for the attack. He had no idea why Lucy would want him to do something like that, but he trusted her. Gray was too busy to analyze the meaning behind Lucy's words, but Shikamaru caught on to it immediately.

"A fireball? That's not good. I can't turn my body in time to–" Shikamaru muttered before he heard Natsu preparing his attack.

"Fire Dragon's…" Natsu started, his cheeks swelling up considerably. Then, with a deep breath, he unleashed an enormous fireball roughly in Shikamaru's direction. "Roar!"

The fireball missed the Konoha shinobi, and instead hit a wall somewhere between them. But when the fireball exploded in a shower of light, Lucy knew that her plan had been successful, and indeed, just when the light started to die down, Natsu noticed that he could control his body again.

"Woohoo, I can use my body again! Damn, that was creepy, I felt like one of Bixlow's puppets for a while." Natsu's exuberant exclamations were cut short when Gray hit him on the back of the hard with enough force to make the Dragon Slayer of Fire stumble forwards. Angrily the pink haired mage turned around.

"Hey, what the hell was that for?!" They glared at each other and were almost pressing their foreheads together.

"For being a complete idiot! Seriously, thanks to you the guy had us almost beaten! I know it's not all your fault, but be a little more careful next time, and those punches HURT for god's sake!" Gray exclaimed.

Their little argument would probably have continued if they hadn't heard someone chuckling in the near vicinity. When the chuckling grew to a full blown laughter, they turned their heads simultaneously and were confronted with something even many Konoha ninjas had never seen before, a laughing Shikamaru.

"Hey! What's so damn funny you freakin' pineapple head?!" Natsu yelled, raising his right fist in a threatening manner.

Shikamaru's laugh returned to a normal chuckle before it died down again. The lazy chunin simply took another drag on his cigarette before dropping the remains on the ground and extinguishing it with his left foot, yet the amusement didn't completely leave his face.

"Sorry, it's just that you two arguing like that reminded me of Naruto and a… former associate. It was rare that both got so riled up, but it did happen." Shikamaru replied before a heavy sigh escaped the Nara's lips. He turned to Lucy, who flinched slightly when she felt his gaze on herself.

"I'm impressed you managed to come up with a tactic against my Shadow Possession Jutsu so quick, girlie. Not that it will work twice, but the fact alone that you noticed how another light source would simply cancel my shadow is impressive. Holding you guys off might be tougher than I thought… That's troublesome…"

When Natsu, Gray and Lucy saw how Shikamaru acted, they couldn't help to remember the conversation they had had earlier that day, how Juvia had said that sometimes people were forced to do things they didn't want to do. Could this be the case for the shadow mage who fought them?

Mirajane, who said seen more of these two also couldn't help but wonder how two persons like that could be part of a dark guild, especially that Naruto guy. Sure, when he had been attacked he had shown a serious side, the mentality of a warrior, but before that? He had acted almost like Natsu, albeit a little less extreme. If they could get some answers out of this guy… However, Mirajane didn't expect Natsu to speak out what she was thinking.

"You act weird for a dark guild mage… Are you really evil?" The Dragon Slayer asked with a frown. Even if he loved to fight, he only battled those who either wanted to or who deserved it. This guy didn't seem to fit in either category.

Shikamaru looked at them with a defeated look in his eyes before responding. "You ask me if I'm evil? That's not an easy question. Do you want to know if my comrades and I plan to endanger innocent people? Then the answer is no. Do you want to know if I can kill people in cold blood? Then the answer is yes."

At this everyone looked at him wide eyed. He had said these words without any hesitation or apparent guilt. And this didn't happen after killing only one person. Natsu's fists clenched in anger.

"Mages don't kill! Magic should be used to protect people!" He shouted angrily. The looks that came from Gray, Lucy and Mirajane held the same message. And what did Shikamaru do?

He started chuckling again.

This had everyone stunned. He was laughing at them? Was this guy really that much of a bastard? Had their impression of him been completely wrong?

"You think we're mages? Man, that's a laugh. I shouldn't be surprised though. We don't really go around and tell everyone…" Shikamaru said.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?!" Gray shouted. His hands were already beginning to prepare for another ice spell.

Shikamaru looked at them with an almost sad expression. Yet his voice remained strong and firm. It was the voice of a man who had seen war. "Konoha is not a true dark guild as you know them… In fact, we still follow the path we've always been following. The Path of the Shinobi."

Suddenly Shikamaru was interrupted as his limbs were restricted by water that came at him from an unknown location. Before the lazy genius could even wonder what was happening, he felt a blade pressed against his throat.

"That's as far as you go buddy." A deep voice said. Shikamaru turned his head slightly and saw a man with long, black, backwards spiked hair and piercings in his face. The piercings reminded him a little of the invasion of Pain, but these thoughts were quickly banished. There were more pressing matters that needed to be attended to, namely the sword that grew out of the hand of his captor.

"I guess that's what I get for getting distracted… So troublesome" Shikamaru muttered.

"Gajeel! Juvia!" Lucy shouted, never happier that the two former Phantom Lord Mages had joined their guild. Juvia came out of an alley, the water bindings attached to Shikamaru still connected to her body. When she saw Gray and the relieved look on his face, she blushed. Gajeel simply grunted, though he was kinda happy that they were glad to see him.

"We wondered what was going on. The rest of the mages should be here soon. I guess our guest here will have to answer some questions." The Iron Dragon Slayer said.

Gray interrupted him. "Yeah, but we should send someone after Erza! She's fighting that Maelstrom guy, and we don't know if she can defeat him. He's on Gildarts' level after all."

Natsu stared at Shikamaru with barely contained ire when he heard Gray's words. Erza was like a sister to him, an extremely violent sister, but still. "If your friend hurts her in any way, I'll never forgive you."

The lazy genius hadn't said anything since his capture. But he was strangely calm for someone who had a sword at his throat. He seemed pretty interested in a group of birds that sat on one of the nearby rooftops though. Mirajane, who followed his gaze, frowned. These birds looked strange… and she had never seen birds like these before in this city. Could it be?!

"Everyone, look out!" Mirajane cried out. Her words alerted everyone, but it was too late. A smirk appeared on Shikamaru's face.

"Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll." The voice was barely more than a whisper, but the result was disastrous for the Fairy Tail mages. The birds on the rooftop exploded in a shower of ink, and transformed into something akin to lions, which wasted no time to attack the mages. Gajeel and Juvia were only distracted for a moment. But this moment was the entire second hidden assailant needed.

Wooden beams exploded from the ground and forced the Iron Dragon Slayer to release his hold, since one of the beams erupted directly under the captured Konoha shinobi. The water that restrained him faded away when Juvia was forced to defend herself against one of the ink lions that attacked her. While these beasts weren't very strong, their surprise attack had turned the tide of the battle to Shikamaru's favor. Soon, the black beasts were defeated, turning into black ink, and everyone returned their attention to the self-proclaimed shinobi.

"That was a close one…" Shikamaru said as he stood on top of his wooden beam, which now reached at least thirty feet into the air, along with two other beams that reached the same height.

An unknown person landed on the pole on Shikamaru's right. He seemed pretty young, around Shikamaru's age, and wore completely black attire that strangely enough left his mid-section visible. The young man was quite pale and had a smile on his face that looked normal at first glance, but the longer you looked at it the falser it became. It was quite unsettling. "That's quite unlike you to get surprised like that, Shikamaru. Ino will never let you hear the end of this if she hears about it."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Great, just what I need… Just don't tell her about this, okay? I haven't eaten anything all day, and to tell you the truth it's getting to me. Even I can't think as usual when I'm starving."

Then, another person landed on the third wooden beam. He was definitely older than the other two and had short brown hair. His face was framed by an open black face mask and a forehead protector that went down to his chin at both sides. Just like Shikamaru, he wore a green flask vest and black cargo pants.

"You sure are lucky we came here on time. Without Sai's tracking technique it would have taken us much longer. Anyway, where's Naruto? Sai had originally detected him in the same area as you–"

A loud explosion resounded through the area on the outskirts of the city. It was the area Naruto had chosen to fight Erza at.

"Oh well, I guess that answers my question. Sai, I think it's time to return home. If you would, please?"

"Of course, Captain Yamato." The ink using ninja replied. With a lightning fast motion, Sai drew a scroll from one of his pouches, and started to channel his chakra into it. The scroll began to unroll to its whole length of at least twenty feet, and flattered in the wind as the technique was completed.

"Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll." The black lines that had been visible to the Fairy Tail mages suddenly came to life and began to peel themselves from the scroll. Soon, a gigantic Chinese dragon had emerged from the scroll and flew around the three wooden bars the Konoha Nin was occupying. A loud roar resounded through the area as the dragon circled around the top of the three wooden beams. For the members of Fairy Tail, this sight was completely unexpected due to another reason.

Gajeel couldn't believe what he was seeing. "An ink dragon?! No way!"

"That magic! Isn't that Reedus' Picto magic?!" Gray exclaimed, more a statement than a question. It made much more sense than Gajeel's ridiculous thoughts about a possible Ink Dragon Slayer.

"But I thought you couldn't create living things with it." Mirajane added. She had finally regained enough strength to stand without help again. The former S-Class Mage was angry at herself. If she could simply access her old powers again, like she had in the battle against Freed…

While the mages of Magnolia were still distracted by the appearance of a gigantic dragon out of a scroll, the three Konoha shinobi were climbing on its white back. This pulled the mages out of their stupor, and they immediately began to fire at it to take it down.

"Ice Make: Arrow!" Gray shouted, firing his projectile at the escaping dragon. Seeing this Natsu and Gajeel wasted no time and joined their comrade with their own attacks. They took a deep breath simultaneously and prepared to take the dragon down.

"Fire/Iron Dragon's Roar!" Natsu and Gajeel shouted at the same time.

The iron and fire combined in the air, creating a ball of molten iron which headed straight for Sai's ink creature. Unfortunately, said ink creature wasn't very good at dodging fast objects, and none of its passengers were really good at stopping such attacks; they were trained to dodge these. Just when all hope seemed lost, the plans of Fairy Tail were foiled yet again. If anybody would have looked at the rooftops right now, they would have seen the shadow of a person racing to the dragon's location at an insane speed. The shadow jumped and placed himself directly between the dragon and the fireball.

"Rotation!"

A huge dome of energy appeared out of nowhere and collided with the combined attack of the Dragon Slayers. For a moment it looked like the dome would collapse, but in the end it prevailed and shattered the ball of fire and iron, scattering it. Some of the fire ball's fragments slammed in nearby buildings, damaging them heavily, but this went by unnoticed at the moment, since the Fairy Tail members were surprised about the appearance of yet another unknown person.

The person, apparently a young man, used the momentum of his attack to grab onto one of the ink dragon's legs before he fell down. He had long brown hair that covered his entire back. On his forehead was the same metal plate that the other Konoha ninja wore, but the rest of his attire was quite different. Instead of dark clothes or one of the flak jackets, he wore loose wide robes which fluttered because of the wind caused by the dragon's flight.

"They're getting away! We have to go after them!" Gajeel shouted while already running after them. The rest of the group followed and Natsu had soon caught up with the Iron Dragon Slayer while the rest of them were a little farther behind. Lucy and Juvia simply weren't fast runners, and Gray was still recovering from Natsu's punches. Mirajane had opted to stay behind and wait for her brother to awaken. Besides, she wouldn't be of any help. The best thing she could do for now was help Elfman and inform Master Makarov.

While the Konoha shinobi hunt went on, Natsu grew frustrated. He just couldn't catch up! Then an idea came to his mind. How could he have been so stupid?

"Happy! Let's go!" The pink haired mage shouted to the blue cat, who had been sitting on Lucy's shoulder till now.

"Aye!" Happy replied, jumping into the air and using his magic to grow two wings. With his newfound speed he rushed to Natsu and picked him up, carrying him into the air towards their escaping enemies.

 ** _With Shikamaru_**

"Man that was a close one. It would have been troublesome if that attack had hit us. Thanks again, Neji." Shikamaru said, turning his head slightly towards Neji.

"Don't mention it. You should be more careful next time, I'm not so sure that all of you would have managed to get away if the dragon had been hit."

The last member of the scouting team was none other than the Hyuuga prodigy and youngest jonin of his generation, Neji Hyuga. It had taken him a little longer to find his teammates, but thanks to his Byakugan, it had been easy once he had been near the city. The four shinobi were currently heading for the outskirts of Magnolia to pick up Naruto and to return to Konoha afterwards. Sai's ink dragon would still hold out for a while, but it was a constant drain on the former ROOT agent's reserves.

"I hope Naruto is alright. If he managed to hurt himself again, Sakura will probably pound him before healing him. Or heal him so that she can pound him without holding back." Sai said with his ever present grin. This time it even wasn't completely fake, Sakura's and Naruto's antics were quite amusing from time to time.

Shikamaru was tense. "We have to be careful. At the moment Naruto is probably still fighting Erza Scarlet, and it wouldn't be wise to get in a battle between two fighters of such a skill level."

"I think we also have another problem." Neji added, his Byakugan once again active. "The pink haired mage is following us. It appears that he's using some kind of animal summon to fly."

And indeed, behind the ink dragon Happy and Natsu were slowly catching up with them. For the moment the shinobi were still safe from fireballs since they were far enough ahead, but it wouldn't stay like this forever, especially since they had to land to pick up Naruto.

The dragon reached the fields before the city, and shortly afterwards Natsu and the others too. However, none of them was prepared for what they saw there. The entire field was filled with craters. Trees had been uprooted and broken. In the distance, illuminated by the setting sun, two unmoving figures stood. No one could clearly tell who was who, but all of them hurried up when one of the two fighters collapsed.

The fight was over.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright guys, here's the next chapter for this story and I have a few things I would like to say. So I've been seeing the shipping suggestion for the story and there's one thing I have to ask. Why Kakashi and Mira? I mean I need a reason to be able to ship them and I'm very certain that the age gap between Kakashi and Mira is quite big so unless people can give me a good reason to ship them then I don't think I can make that pairing.**

 **Another thing is about who Naruto should be shipped with, so some people want the shipping for Naruto to be with Hinata and others want it to be with Erza. Now I've made a poll on my profile and which ever shipping gets the most vote will be the ship for the story. Or if you want Naruto to be shipped with someone else then vote for others and either review who it should be or PM me.**

 **Lastly one of the things I really need to talk about, people putting up reviews in this story about asking or telling me about the next chapter for Kakashi The Demon Eye Mage. Please listen, I haven't forgotten the story or having any writing blocks. Its just that this will be the last chapter for the Oracion Seis Arc and it'll take sometime to finish but I'm currently working on it and if you don't belive me then I won't have any problem sending you what I've done do far but if not then please be patient with the update.**

 **That's all I have to say and I hope you all enjoy the story**

 ** _Chapter 4: Scarlet Fairy VS Crimson Fox_**

"Let's go wild!" The Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox shouted as he charged the scarlet haired mage.

Erza was slightly taken aback by her opponent's reckless charge, considering that he was unarmed. However, Erza was not an S-Class Mage for nothing, and immediately raised her double-edged sword and also charged at her opponent. With strength that betrayed her build, she brought the heavy weapon down, intending to cut the Konoha shinobi across his chest. A smirk appeared on Naruto's face. The blonde ninja raised his left hand and punched towards the incoming blade; a move Erza had not anticipated.

A thought shot through her head. _'Is he planning to sacrifice his arm to get an attack in?'_

Despite the fact that her sword would possibly cripple "Maelstrom" hand, Erza didn't change her weapons course. She had expected a trick, but certainly not that she hit SOMETHING that felt like solid steel a few inches away from the blonde's hand. Her sword bounced off harmlessly and the scarlet haired mage only narrowly dodged a punch from Naruto's right fist, or at least she thought so. Just like his left hand, there seemed to be an invisible force a few inches around the right hand. It felt like Elfman had just hit her with a transformed arm, no, even stronger than that! Suppressing a painful gasp, Erza was sent backwards. The attack apparently hadn't fully hit her since she had already started to jump backwards, but it still hurt like hell.

 _'Is that his magic? If he can extend the range of this force field of his I'll have to resort to long rage weapons. I can't risk to get hit by one of these fists directly. I probably won't be able to stand afterwards.'_ She asked herself before letting out a soft groan. Erza ignored the pain in her stomach and the dent in her armor. She eyed her opponent carefully, who hadn't capitalized on the opening his attack had created. Brown eyes met red-rimmed golden eyes. Was he using eye-magic? His eyes were definitely not normal, but her artificial right eye couldn't detect any form of visual magic aiming at her.

"Look, I know you want to capture me. That hobo-guy wanted that as well, and I don't want to hurt you as well. It's bad enough I had no other choice but to destroy his arm, but you have to understand: the people of Konoha trust in me to return to them. I can't let them down." Naruto stated.

"You could just give up. And why should I care what the people of Konoha think? If your mages lose their will to fight once their strongest fighter is down, it's all the better for us. I have encountered many dark guilds in my career, and none of them were up to any good. What should make you different?" Erza asked while she gathered her magical energy. Soon she would be able to pull out one of her stronger armors with her magic which would hopefully even the field.

Naruto shook his head. "You got a wrong image of Konoha. We're not really a guild, though we do have a system resembling one. We're a village. The Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"And you expect me to believe that a village just appears out of nowhere with a small army of mages with no evil intentions?" Erza's eyes narrowed. "For all I know you could be planning to overthrow the Council."

Naruto was close to ripping out his hair in frustration, a feat he would probably have easily accomplished with the strength of his Sage Mode. "Argh, listen to me! We. Are. Not. Evil. I just can't reveal sensitive information about Konoha like this, the fact that I told you that it's a village was probably too much already! I didn't even mean to hurt that hobo-guy so badly, I only wanted to seal his magic temporarily, not permanently!"

The air around Erza began to ripple as she called on her Ex-Quip magic. "Don't worry. You'll have a lot of time to explain things to me thoroughly once I've captured you!"

Naruto's eyes widened as Erza's armor began to change. Her normal attire vanished and was replaced by a black armor resembling a bat. The scarlet haired sorceress even grew a pair of wings to match the outfit. The sword in her hand changed as well. Instead of the double-edged sword from earlier Erza now wielded a black claymore almost as large as her.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Erza Scarlet, the strongest female mage of Fairy Tail, and this is one of my 100 armors, The Dark Wing Armor. This armor increases my destructive powers. I don't know the secret of your strength, but I think with this armor I'll be able to match it."

"100 armors? That's certainly impressive… And I think I should introduce myself as well." Settling into another stance of the "Kawazu Kumite", Naruto spoke again. "I'm the Toad Sage of Myobokuzan and one of the strongest fighter of Konohagakure! Naruto Uzumaki's the name!"

"Now that the formalities are over…" Erza replied calmly while crouching down. "I'll defeat you!"

Erza crouched down even further and then used her legs to catapult herself at Naruto. Her black wings spread and carried her through the air to her target. Naruto, surprised by the sudden attack, immediately raised his fists in a protective manner to intercept the sword.

Once again blade and fist collided, but this time Naruto was unable to simply bat it away. In fact, the sword was slowly cutting through the natural energy gathered around his fists!

 _'Damnit, that's some serious power she has behind this attack! I've got no choice. I'll have to pull back.'_ Naruto thought to himself and with a final push, Naruto managed to separate from the demonic looking woman without getting skewered. To make things worse, his Sage Mode was fading away.

 _'I shouldn't have talked with her so long. That's what I get for being such a rookie.'_ Naruto thought bitterly.

The change of his eyes didn't go unnoticed by his opponent. With a calculating look, Erza watched how the eyes of the blonde maelstrom changed from their golden form to an azure blue. Combined with his golden locks he looked quite attractive. Unfortunately for Naruto, Erza was a pro and not that easily distracted from a battle. The scarlet fairy wasted no time, and immediately charged again, this time from above. When she came down again fast enough to put many ninja to shame, the strongest female of Fairy Tail noticed that her opponent was no longer taking her attacks head-on and instead dodged with a back flip. A grin appeared on her face.

"I see… So that ridiculous strength of yours is tied to your eyes. Now that they have returned to normal, you can no longer challenge me in a contest of pure strength."

The blond boy chuckled lightly "I guess you're right. But don't worry. I'm used to dealing with women strong enough to knock me through several buildings with a single punch. I'll just have to change tactics a bit, and I already know the perfect way to start things off."

He brought his hands together and formed a very familiar hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The moment he uttered these words, smoke enveloped the area and Erza was immediately on guard. But nothing could have prepared her for the sight before her. She was surrounded by what had to be at least 40 of the blonde mages, and her right eye told her that those were no illusion.

"This is one of my trademark moves, since no one else besides me has enough chakra to summon this many clones. That Gildarts guy, however, crushed my clones without breaking a sweat, so… Let's see how you'll do!"

"Right!" With an enthusiastic battle cry, the clones charged the armored mage with the intent to take her down.

The clones literally flooded the scarlet haired sorceress. Individually they were rather weak how Erza quickly noticed as only a single strike was needed to disperse them, but the sheer number and their agility was something else. Not to mention that their teamwork was top notch. She saw this when two of them tried to hit her with a strange swirling ball of energy. As she saw just how much damage this tiny ball could inflict, she got even more cautious. Soon enough, Erza realized that her current armor wouldn't help her in this situation, her arms and upper body were already heavily covered by bruises.

"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!" With a flash of light, Erza's armor changed once again. Naruto wasn't impressed by the new armor. The several dozen swords floating around her. Now that was certainly more impressive.

"I'm glad I managed to get this fixed…" Erza thought before she began to use her swords to tear through the ranks of the clones like a hot knife through butter.

"Now dance, my blades!" Erza cried out as the blades around Erza began to spin in a circular manner, cutting the remaining clones cleanly in half. Now there was only one Naruto remaining: the original.

"Wow that was just as fast as that Gildarts guy… You really are an S-Class Mage, huh? You even dodged the Rasengan! That attack managed to defeat the hobo-guy after all… Well, it's not like I expected the CLONES to defeat you, but now I have an idea how I can fight you." Naruto said before pulling a simple kunai out of his weapons pouch. Erza raised an eyebrow. Was he really planning to challenge her with this puny knife? It was almost an insult. Naruto started to grin when suddenly the blade of the kunai began to grow, enveloped in a slight blue/green light. Wind natured chakra, the sharpest blade Naruto could create.

"Let's see whose blade is sharper, 'Titania'!" He challenged the scarlet haired mage.

"Fine, 'Mealstrom'. I'll show you how foolish it is to challenge me with a sword." Erza replied coolly.

For a moment, neither of the two moved. Then they charged again. Naruto knew he had to be careful. His skill with a sword was mediocre at best, and his opponent specialized in them. However, he was sure he had the sharper weapon. Using his trained ninja reflexes, Naruto narrowly escaped the incoming blades and managed to get close enough to his opponent to swing his kunai at her. The blades met and Erza's eyes widened. The puny little knife was cutting through her sword like it wasn't even there! Having no time to dodge, Erza suffered a blow to her midsection. It was only due to luck that her opponent's sword only cut her armor and not her stomach. However, her armor was useless now.

"Damn it… Just what kind of blade is that?" She asked out loud.

Naruto gave her a wide grin, apparently not caring that they were in a battle of life and death. "Sorry, trade secret. I'm afraid as long as you don't have something stronger than that armor, I'll cut all of your weapons with this."

"Something stronger, huh? Requip: Adamantine Armor!" Once again Erza's outfit changed. The countless blades disappeared and now the scarlet haired sorceress was wearing a silver looking armor that covered her entire body. In her hand was a large claymore, but despite the weapon's size she wielded it with one hand. "This armor has the strongest defensive powers of all my armors… Let's see what is stronger: your blade or my shield."

Naruto sighed heavily. "Great, just my luck to run into an opponent who has a solution for every trick I come up with…"

The Toad Sage narrowed his eyes. He had to hurry. Shikamaru wouldn't be able to hold out forever. _'I'll probably have to use THAT Jutsu on her, just like I did on Gildarts… Focus Naruto, you have to do this! Just aim for a non-vital area, and don't use too much spin, not like last time. It's bad enough that I crippled that Gildarts guy's arm permanently. I don't want to do that again.'_

With a hand sign Naruto summoned a new batch of clones wielding kunai charged with wind chakra to distract his opponent. The plan worked, Erza was distracted. Her new armor wasn't built for mobility, and it really did block most of the damage. Too bad the Rasengan was made to bypass any kind of defense…

"Now!" Naruto rushed forward while in his right hand a Rasengan began to form. He was almost there. She wouldn't be able to dodge it from this short distance, and hopefully it wouldn't hurt her too bad. Hopefully…

This was it. Naruto jumped from his hiding spot among the clones and aimed at Erza's body. The scarlet haired mage turned around, seeing the incoming attack. Her eyes widened when she saw just what attack was about to hit her.

The attack connected, and afterwards, silence fell over the battle field.

For a while, Erza didn't even dare to breath. She could see it. A few inches from her face hovered the spiraling ball she had seen before. The attack that had claimed Gildarts' arm. The attack that should have destroyed her magic forever.

So… why? Why hadn't Naruto finished her off? Why was it her sword that was buried in his stomach?!

"Why…?" It was all the scarlet haired sorceress could ask. She slowly raised her head to meet Naruto's gaze. She would never forget what she saw.

Naruto's eyes, these clear, blue eyes looked at her with such warmth she almost lost the grip on her weapon. A sad smile slowly formed on the blonde's face as a lonely tear ran down from his right eye, mingling with the blood that dripped out of his mouth.

"Why? I should ask you the same." He coughed a little, causing even more blood to erupt from his wounds. Yet he never broke the eye contact.

"I'm a shinobi who refused to give up on his emotions in exchange for strength… And now it's these emotions that stop me from destroying your magic forever." Now the expression in his eyes changed to something that almost looked like… despair?

"Why? Why do you look so much like her?! The same scarlet hair, the same strength reflected in your eyes… I just can't hurt you! I can't kill my heart!"

Tears were flowing freely now. Erza was stunned. This man… there was not an ounce of evil in his soul. Had it really taken her so long to realize this, or had she simply not wanted to see it? It was too much for her. Her fighting spirit was broken, not by weapons or magic, but by the sincerity she had seen in her opponent's eyes. He was unable to harm her just because she resembled someone he once knew? The Titania slowly stumbled backwards, her sword freeing itself from Naruto's body with a sickening, squelching sound. Although his head slumped down, Naruto remained standing, refusing to fall. His left hand immediately put pressure on the wound while his right hand dispersed the Rasengan which he would no longer use on his opponent.

"Heh, that's so like me… I blindly stumble into something and create a huge mess for me and my friends… Normally everything turns out just fine, but this time? I'm not so sure…" Naruto thought, feeling strangely peaceful. The blonde warrior raised his head once more and looked at the armored woman in front of him.

It was kind of poetic. Two warriors fighting before the setting sun, both of them representing their different beliefs.

It was the woman who broke the silence which had fallen upon them.

"I admit that I have misjudged you, shinobi of Konoha. I thought that those who refuse to obey the rules for guilds were evil… I should have known better than to see everything as black and white, but still, I cannot let you leave like this. You and your friends are a wild card, an unknown factor. If you're truly not evil, you won't have to fear anything."

For the first time since the fight had started Erza's eyes showed something else besides determination and the shock from earlier.

It was warmth. "So please, just surrender and come with me. You're heavily injured and need medical attention. I'm sure you know that you can no longer win and I don't wish to harm someone as sincere as you."

For a moment Naruto just stared at the armor-clad woman. Apparently she really wanted to solve things without any further conflict and she even believed him that he and his friends were not evil. The blond Jinchuriki chuckled a little.

"You have a strong heart… Accepting others and admitting your own flaws is not an easy task. I respect that. However…"

Suddenly Naruto's tone changed. The melancholy in his eyes vanished and was replaced by something forged through countless battles. An unbreakable will. His eyes flashed red for only a fracture of a moment and Erza was not sure if she had only imagined it. She immediately grabbed her sword tighter and got into a battle stance. Was he really planning to continue this fight? The S-Class Mage's eyes widened when she saw how his wounds began to literally steam, closing up before her eyes.

 _'What kind of magic is this?! I've never heard of such an advanced regeneration magic before!'_ She thought to herself.

A roar diverted the attention of both fighters. A large black and white dragon was heading towards them, a certain pink-haired mage hot on its tail. Naruto smirked. It looked like it was time to hit the road. Once again he brought his hands together in the ram seal, summoning a huge amount of chakra. A confident grin appeared on his face.

"It looks like we'll have to continue our battle another time, Erza Scarlet. While I'm impressed by your abilities and devotion to protect the peace of these lands, I can't allow myself to be captured. So… see ya!"

And then Naruto collapsed on the ground.

The fight was over.

 ** _With Shikamaru_**

The entire group had been alarmed when they saw one of the fighters fall. Neji immediately activated his Byakugan, only to confirm their suspicions. It was Naruto who had collapsed.

"Damn it, I shouldn't have sent him to fight a woman… He doesn't like hitting them." Shikamaru muttered under his breath. "Sai, can you get us close enough to snatch Naruto and escape afterwards without getting caught?"

Sai, who was by now sweating a little, grimaced slightly. "I'm not sure Shikamaru-san, this dragon isn't normally designed for such tasks, and something seems strange about Naruto, I can detect a huge amount of chakra from the area up ahead."

"Is it the Nine Tails?" Shikamaru asked, his voice only carrying a slight trace of anxiety.

"Negative. My Byakugan detects no anomalies with Naruto-san's chakra system." Neji stated, using his famous kekkei genkai to analyze the current situation.

As the dragon quickly approached the scene of the battle, Yamato had an idea what was happening. "Neji, are Naruto's hands touching the ground?" He asked urgently. When the Hyuga nodded in confirmation, the former ANBU grinned. "I see, so that's what he's planning. Sai, change of plans, get us to Konoha now. Naruto will take another route."

Sai merely followed Yamato's orders, not doubting for a single moment that his blonde teammate would be able to escape the mages if he wanted to. Only Neji remained clueless about how Naruto wanted to return to Konoha on his own.

"Yamato, what exactly are you talking about? What other route could Naruto possibly take?"

Shikamaru smirked. It had been easy for him to connect the dots. "Let's just say that Naruto picked up some tricks while training with the toads."

 ** _With Natsu_**

The flying cat and the Fire Dragon Slayer raced after the dragon as fast as they could. Much to Natsu's dismay however, they were only able to keep up with its speed, keeping them separated by some distance. The pink haired mage's eyes hardened when he saw the destruction before him. The outskirts of Magnolia were completely destroyed, trees had been uprooted and stones had been smashed. In the distance he saw two silhouettes facing off against each other, but it was too far away to determine who was who, not to mention that the gigantic ink dragon was taking up quite a lot of Natsu's field of vision. Even then, Natsu didn't miss it when one of the two fighters collapsed and fell to the ground.

"Happy, hurry up! Even if it's Erza that won, she can't possibly be unhurt! Hurry!" Natsu shouted.

"Aye!" Came the determined reply of the magical animal.

Little did they know that what expected them at the center of battle was something neither of them would ever forget.

 ** _With Naruto_**

 _'What is this pressure? The moment he fell over, his magical energy spiked unlike anything I've felt in our fight so far!'_ Erza's mind was racing. What was happening to the blonde man? Was he trying a suicide spell so he wouldn't get captured? Erza quickly discarded this thought, killing himself wasn't something a man like Naruto would do; she had realized this in their fight. The scarlet haired mage remained cautious, and didn't approach her fallen opponent. Nevertheless, the grip on her weapon tightened.

The fallen Naruto once again raised his head, his hands apparently the only thing keeping him from completely hitting the ground. The moment their gazes met however, Erza realized that Naruto was by far not at his ropes end. He gave her a confident smile, his eyes once again a shining blue color. Had she only imagined the red slitted eyes? No, there was no time for musing over things like that.

The strange ink dragon was approaching, and by now Erza could easily identify one of the passengers as Naruto's comrade. Apparently Fairy Tail was not the only one who sent reinforcements. The strongest female of Fairy Tail prepared to attack the incoming dragon, but she was surprised to see the dragon change its course away from the battle scene. Had they decided to abandon their comrade?

"Heh, looks like they figured it out. I guess with Yamato and Shikamaru that's no surprise." Naruto stated.

Erza's attention returned to the blonde shinobi in front of her. The armor clad mage's eyes widened when she saw a series of strange symbols spreading out from Naruto's hands. Where were they coming from, and what was this color?

"Don't tell me!" Erza exclaimed. "Your blood?! You're using blood magic?!" The mind of the scarlet haired beauty was immediately alert. Nothing good could come from blood magic.

"You could say so… The blood's only a catalyst though. The technique itself is something different. Anyway, I gotta go, so see ya!" Naruto said as the symbols had by now formed a circle around the blonde and began to glow with an eerie light. Erza's body reacted on its own when she realized that his magic would start at any moment now.

"Stop it!" She shouted, sprinting towards the circle. Naruto's eyes widened in both surprise and shock. This wasn't good. He had to stop her somehow!

"No! You can't step into the summoning circle! You have to…" Naruto tried to warn her but it was too late.

But the rest of his words were lost when Erza did just that. For a short moment time seemed like it had been frozen and none of the two warriors moved even a fraction of an inch. The last thing Erza Scarlet, S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail remembered, was an incredibly strong sensation of pulling. For a moment she thought she heard Natsu's voice calling out to her.

Then the darkness claimed her.

 ** _With Natsu_**

"ERZAAAAAAA!"

Natsu screamed in despair as he saw how his sister figure was enveloped in a strange light before she vanished from his sight. Happy and Natsu reached the place where Erza and her opponent had stood only a few seconds too late. She was gone.

"Damn it! What the hell happened here?!" Natsu shouted angrily, looking for any traces the blonde haired guy might have left behind.

"Natsu!" The Fire Dragon Slayer didn't even turn around when Lucy called his name and arrived together with Gray, Gajeel and Juvia. The blonde Celestial Spirit Mage noticed her friend's distress, and immediately connected the dots.

"Where's Erza, Natsu? What happened here?" Lucy inquired carefully. She didn't want to upset Natsu any further.

"I don't know! I didn't get here in time; the last thing I saw is how Erza rushed at her opponent who was already on his knees! But then he used some kind of magic and the two of them just vanished!" The pink-haired mage ranted.

"And the rest of the Konoha mages are gone too… They must have known what that 'Maelstrom' guy was planning. Now that I think about it… Perhaps they had planned this all along." Gray said while resting his head on his right hand, as if the thinking pose would help him with his deductions.

"What do you mean, my darling Gray?" Juvia asked, not so sure what her crush was talking about.

The Ice Mage started to explain his theories. "Think about it. The two of them marched into the city and spoke to Elfman and Mirajane. To me it looks like they WANTED to get noticed by us. When reinforcements arrive, Erza rushed after the stronger opponent. And just when we capture the other one, he is rescued. The timing is really odd. Either they're really lucky, or it was just a plan to gauge or strength."

At this point, Gajeel interrupted Gray. "But why would they be after Erza? And if they wanted to capture a strong mage, why didn't that 'Maelstrom' guy capture Gildarts when they fought?"

"Perhaps he was too strong to be captured… Gildarts DID say that he and the Konoha mage were pretty even when they fought… But wouldn't that also mean that the shadow user was lying all along?" Lucy asked.

Gray was once again in deep thought. "We can't discard the possibility that he lied to catch us off guard. If he had told us that their plan was to capture Erza, we would have tried to help her. No, I think he was buying time for his buddy to take Erza as a hostage."

"Erza as a hostage…?" Natsu said quietly. He had been really quiet throughout the entire discussion, visibly shaken up to see one of his closest friends get taken away like that. Especially since she was one of the strongest persons Natsu knew.

"Taking Erza hostage… Konoha might be planning to weaken us so they don't have to fear us getting in their way." Gray finally concluded. With a serious tone he continued. "We have to report this to the Master. I'm afraid we'll have to prepare for a war very soon."

The mood suddenly got a lot darker. All of them knew that they would meet the mysterious mages of Konoha again, but the next time would be a lot more dangerous and bloodier for both sides.

 ** _With Naruto_**

"Ugh…"

Slowly, Erza opened her eyes. What had happened? Where was she? The last thing she remembered was… Erza shot up and immediately regretted doing so. Her whole body was aching, a testament to the battle she had been through. The mage of Fairy Tail carefully looked around. She seemed to be in some sort of cave, and the inhabitants had to be really small if the kitchen she could see was any indication.

"Ah, you're finally awake. I'll have to tell Naruto that he can visit you now."

Erza whipped her head around and saw one of the strangest creatures she had ever seen – a small, very old looking and TALKING toad with a white goatee and a black cloak around his shoulders. All seriousness was forgotten and Erza simply stared at the odd sight before her with a open mouth.

"Wh-wh-what the hell are you?!" She finally brought out.

The toad seemed a little angry suddenly. "I'm a 'who', thank you very much, and my name is Fukusaku, one of the elder toads at Myobokuzan."

"Myobokuzan…?" Erza repeated, confused. She had never heard of such a mountain anywhere on the entire continent, and yet the name sounded somewhat familiar. Then it hit her.

"That Naruto guy! He said he was the Toad Sage of Myobokuzan!" She exclaimed loudly. The elder toad chuckled a little.

"Yes, yes, little Naruto was finally able to pick up the title of 'Sage' after Jiraiya's tragic passing… But enough of that, I think it's time for you to get something to eat, right?"

And so Erza's adventures on Mount Myobokuzan began.

 ** _Unknown Location_**

"Is everything proceeding as planned?" Asked a shadowy figure wearing an orange mask with a swirl pattern.

"Yes. I managed to infiltrate the Council successfully. They haven't even noticed yet that one of them has been replaced by me." Replied another voice. Yellow eyes glowed in the darkness of the meeting place.

"And what about your mission, Sasuke?" The mask wearing man asked the last of their little group. It was a young man with an emotionless yet handsome face. His black hair framed his pale face, matching his equally black eyes.

"Hn. I spread further rumors about Konoha throughout the cities by impersonating their leading members. Such a trivial task is not worthy of me, don't dare to order me again, Madara."

The man called Madara chuckled. "Now, now, Sasuke, no need to be so grumpy. Just so you know. I finished my little task as well. Soon we'll be able to open a portal to the Elemental Nations again, using my Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan's 'Kamui' and the magic of our little friend here…"

Insane laughter could be heard throughout the entire cave the meeting was taking place in. It was so loud it caused another person residing in this cave to wake up. His form was bloody and beaten, dried blood cracking when he opened his eyes.

"I… failed." Mystogan could only mutter this one sentence before unconsciousness claimed him once again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter for this story and I just wanted to tell you all a few things. First off there will be multiple shipping in this story and if you have have suggestions on what the ships should be, then PM me or leave a review on it. Now the next thing is the Naruto ship, I've decided to leave the poll open for a few more days before the announcing which ship wins. Also I think I should ship Kakashi with someone but I'm not sure who should it be, so if you all have a suggestion then please tell me, but please explain to me why is should be that person. That's all I have to say and please enjoy the story.**

 **Chapter 5: The Calm Before the Storm**

"I see… This is indeed very concerning news."

The entire guild of Fairy Tail was completely silent as the members listened to Makarov. Everybody had been highly alert when an exhausted looking Mirajane had entered the building, along with a barely conscious Elfman. Of course they had been concerned before that already. Well, concerned wasn't the right word. In the beginning, the mages had only been curious. After all, with mages like Gildarts among their ranks, it wasn't uncommon to see a few buildings getting busted now and then. But as the noise hadn't shown any signs of stopping soon, Natsu and his friends had left to see if everything was alright.

Nothing had been alright.

No one had expected something like this. The elusive dark guild "Konoha"… Why had they suddenly appeared in the city? A fight had been inevitable, and now something had happened that no one could have expected. Erza, one of Fairy Tail's S-Class mages was… gone. No one knew where she was now. Only one thing was clear: it was all the doing of Konoha.

As silence befell the room, it was Gray who spoke up to break it. "Master… What are we gonna do now? Like I said, it might be possible that Konoha is planning to take out the high ranking mages from the guilds to weaken us."

When Makarov didn't answer immediately, but instead closed his eyes and sighed heavily, Natsu got angry. No, he got even angrier than he already was. Erza was like a sister to him, and to see her getting kidnapped like this… He hated it. He hated feeling so powerless. It reminded him too much of the entire Jellal situation.

"Gramps, aren't you gonna do anything? Let's form a search party! We gotta find Erza, and then I'll give that Maelstrom guy the beating he deserves!" Natsu shouted.

Before the old master could even respond to Natsu's rant, the door burst open and a very exhausted looking Freed stormed into the main hall. It was rare to see the normally calm mage like this, so it was no wonder that some members voiced their concern, while Freed was still trying to catch his breath.

"Hey Freed, what happened? You look like you've seen a ghost." Levy asked, true concern clearly audible in her voice.

The enchantment using mage looked at her, his eyes wide and his face pale. Finally, he managed to regain enough breath to tell the others just what had him so spooked.

"Master Makarov, a messenger from the magic council just arrived! Quatro Kerberos has been wiped out!"

In a flash, the old master's eyes snapped open at Fried with an intensity that made everyone in the room freeze.

"What did you just say?" Makarov's voice was calm, but every mage worth his salt could just FEEL how angry the Master was. His magic was rising and almost suffocating some members.

"I-I just heard it from the messenger at the city gates." Freed continued. "According to some witnesses, the entire guild was attacked by only one man. He destroyed a large part of the city and mercilessly attacked the mages. In the end… this one man killed forty percent of Quatro Kerberos and left the rest heavily injured. It is still unclear if Master Goldmine will survive his wounds."

The silence from earlier seemed like infernal noise compared to the lack of sound that now filled the guild. Many of the mages could not believe what they had just heard. Bit by bit, whispers started to spread through the room.

"One man alone? He killed so many people…? Who could do such a thing?" As Makarov spoke up again, the whispers ceased. "Freed…" The old mage began, his anger barely subdued. "Who did this?"

"… They didn't know the mage, but he left a message. Black flames which the mages of the magic council could not extinguish burned a message into the ground where the guild once stood."

With the next sentence, pandemonium broke loose.

"It was the symbol of a leaf. It was Konoha."

Immediately, angry shouts erupted from every corner of the guild. This was an outrage! Konoha had openly attacked two of the strongest guilds of the country. This could only mean one thing.

"Crippling Gildarts, kidnapping Erza, murdering our friends… this has gone too far. This is no longer hostile behavior; this is a declaration of war!" The barely contained anger of the Master burst forth with a power they had only seen in the battle against the Phantom Lord Guild.

"Freed! Is that messenger still here? I have a message for him!" Makarov shouted, his eyes full of righteous fury.

"Actually, I'm right here. Excuse me, but your friend ran off so fast that I could barely keep up."

Everyone immediately turned towards the door, where an unknown man stood. His clothes, however, were easily recognizable as the uniform of a servant of the magic council. The shoulder-length, ash-blonde hair was slightly welled and framed the quite handsome face of the man who had just entered the guild.

"Hm? Who's this guy?" Natsu asked, his confusion momentarily replacing his anger at Konoha.

"Idiot, it's a servant of the magic council! Look at his uniform!" Lucy reprimanded her friend.

The man walked towards Makarov and knelt down before him, his head held low.

"Master Makarov, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Levant von Schweitzer, and as you can see I am an official messenger of the magic council. As you've certainly heard by now, Quatro Kerberos has been annihilated. As such, the magic council immediately held an emergency meeting to discuss the next step we should take against Konoha."

Levant raised his head and looked the master straight into his eyes. "By decree of the magic council, Konoha is officially classified as a Dark Guild of S-Class strength, and the entire guild of Fairy Tail is hereby ordered to join forces with both Blue Pegasus and the troops of the magic council under the command of the newly promoted Commander Lahar and gather at the 'Forest of Haze' to completely wipe out the dark guild Konoha."

If earlier it was pandemonium that had erupted, this time the opposite happened. Everyone went completely silent, especially the members of Fairy Tail that had participated in the Oración Seis extermination mission, who went stone-faced. They knew of the dangers when facing a dark guild, and now they mobilized two full guilds as well as an entire battalion of the magic council?

These thoughts of course also went through the head of Master Makarov. He truly wished his guild wouldn't have to be dragged into this, or at least not everyone. Normally, he could at least trust the fact that Mystogan, Gildarts, and Erza were able to take care of themselves. But, with one of them missing, the other badly hurt, and the last one off to god-knows where, how could Makarov send his remaining mages to a mission where they would most likely end up like lambs before a pack of wolves?

But this was not the time to hesitate. Konoha had wronged them, and had to be punished for their sins. With a strong gaze, Makarov looked at the messenger again. "When does the operation start?"

"In two weeks. Therefore, you'll have to prepare to move out soon, since the 'Forest of Haze' is not really close by." Levant replied evenly.

With a nod the master replied simply: "I see. We'll begin the preparations immediately. You may deliver this to the magic council."

Only the nod of Levant von Schweitzer indicated that he had indeed heard what Makarov had said. Without any further ado, the man arose from his kneeling position and walked out of the building, not glancing back even once.

"Stuck-up bastard." Natsu muttered. Lucy and Gray couldn't even reprimand him for his rude assortment since it was undeniably true.

The voices grew loud again, but were immediately quelled by the Master's loud orders. "You've heard it! Every able member of Fairy Tail will participate in the battle against Konoha! Those who are hurt, give your names to Mirajane! Those who are fit will go home and pack for at least two weeks! There will be base, but we don't know what to expect! For the sake of our fallen friends and comrades, let us all stand together and fight!"

At the last word, Makarov raised his staff high into the air, and everyone else followed by thrusting their fists into the air with a loud cheer.

Fairy Tail was going to war, and Konoha would bleed for their cruel deeds.

Levant von Schweitzer had just left the city and leisurely walked down the road. For someone who had to deliver such an important message, he sure looked like he was in no hurry.

"Well, that was easy." He said to himself apparently.

"Yeah, like taking candy from a baby." A voice suddenly replied, seemingly from out of nowhere. Levant remained completely calm. He didn't even bat an eyelash.

"I never understood this collocation. Why would we want to take the candy?" Levant answered calmly.

"You're right. We'd probably take the baby and leave the candy behind. They sure are tasty when the flesh is still so young and soft… Damn, now I'm getting hungry. That Levant guy didn't taste all that good."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find something on the way back to still our hunger."

As Levant's right eye started to glow with a malicious yellow light, it became all too clear why Zetsu was indeed the infiltration specialist of the Akatsuki.

 **With Yamato**

The sun was already setting when Neji and the other reconnaissance shinobi finally returned to Konoha. Since Sai's ink dragon was more of a combat than a transportation move, it had collapsed after one hour, which had left the Konoha shinobi with a three hour journey back home. They had traveled mostly in silence, none of them really in the mood for talking; especially after Neji revealing some very disturbing news to them that the Hokage wouldn't be pleased to hear. They always had been able to count on Naruto to lighten the mood, but with him gone for god knew how long…

After their arrival, the four ninja had immediately been escorted to the Hokage's office. None of them looked forward to explain how the situation had developed and how Naruto had decided to take a little vacation.

"Come in."

Yamato swallowed nervously when he opened the door, and entered the office with his three companions. He could already see Kakashi's one visible eyebrow rising, wordlessly asking the former ANBU where a certain blonde knucklehead was. This was bad.

"Welcome back you four. While I'm quite interested in your reports concerning our current situation I cannot help but notice that one of your team is missing. Anyone care to enlighten me?" Kakashi asked, apparently calm, but Yamato knew better. He had worked with Kakashi in the ANBU before he had taken his leave, and he remembered how Kakashi had used this tone before. It meant serious business.

The wood-release user nervously started his report, always watching for a reaction on his Hokage's face. Some people were still amazed how many emotions Kakashi could portray with only his right eye being visible. Once Yamato had finished his report, silence reigned the room. Shikamaru, Neji, and Sai had stayed silent during Yamato's speech, but now they looked like they barely held back questions they were dying to ask.

A heavy sigh escaped Kakashi's lips. "I see… This are troubling news indeed. Not only was our existence completely exposed to the outside world, but Naruto resorted to a Reverse Summoning. Then there's the mysterious attack on Quatro Kerberos, to which Neji witnessed the aftermath…"

The Hokage closed his uncovered eye in deep thought. It had been inevitable that their existence would be exposed one day, but it had been truly bad luck that Naruto had started a fight with Fairy Tail's 'Titania'. Now that he had escaped to Myobokuzan, he would need at least two weeks to return. What worried Kakashi most though, was the attack on Quatro Kerberos. There were only two people who could have possibly committed such a horrible act, and both of them bore the name Uchiha. Madara and Sasuke… The only benefit such an act had for them was that the outside world perceived Konoha as an enemy.

Massaging his temples to prevent a headache, Kakashi muttered, "Now I know why Tsunade always drank so much sake in her office… With so much work to do, I can't even enjoy my books anymore!"

The silver haired Hokage addressed his shinobi once again. "Yamato, I want you to go to the ANBU headquarters and send out twice the amount of the usual forest patrols. Shikamaru, you'll inform the council about the newest developments. Neji, I want you to notify the clan heads about this, and inform Hiashi about the Hyuuga clan's role as protectors of the civilian population if the need of an evacuation arises. Finally, Sai, please fetch Tsunade for me. She should be working at the hospital at the moment."

With a collective nod, all the gathered ninja but Sai vanished, leaving behind nothing but a swirl of leaves. Kakashi raised his eyebrow and looked the former ROOT agent directly into his eyes. "Is something the matter, Sai?"

For a while, Sai said nothing. Just when Kakashi was about to ask him again, the pale young man spoke. "Lord Hokage… What about Naruto? When will he be back, or rather, how? If he performed a Reverse Summoning, he should be back in our home world, and there is no other toad summoner to summon a toad that could transport him here."

Kakashi chuckled slightly. "You are correct Sai, there is no toad summoner who could perform this task. However, on this fateful day one year ago, not only our people were swallowed by the vortex in the sky. No, it also took most of our buildings and structures with it, and among these things was also a long distance teleportation well used by the toads of Myobokuzan. Naruto is able to use this well to return here. He already did so about ten months ago, when he secretly trained with the Jinchuriki of the Eight Tails."

Sai's eyes widened slightly at this revelation. He remembered how Naruto had gone on a training mission for a month and a half shortly after the whole "Anima" dilemma, but to think that he had indeed returned to their own dimension, he could see why it had to be kept a secret.

"If the general population had found out that there was a way of reaching our home world, there would have been a riot. I'm pretty sure a lot of people wouldn't have been able to understand that only a summoner can use such pathways, and the last thing Naruto would need after finally getting accepted is an angry town." Kakashi calmly continued.

"I understand." Sai answered. "Do you known when he'll be back? I'm pretty sure Sakura and the rest of Naruto's friends will want to know about his delayed return as well."

"I can only make a rough estimation, but the shortest time it takes for the well to collect enough energy for a jump like this is one week. It shouldn't take that much longer." Kakashi replied.

Sai nodded a last time to his leader. "Thank you, Lord Hokage." With a swirl of leaves, Sai was gone too. For a moment Kakashi looked at the spot his subordinate had been occupying, before ruefully turning his head towards a rather large pile of unfinished paperwork.

"I just know that Tsunade didn't awaken from the coma until I was made Hokage, just to escape this hell. I guess Minato-sensei was right. Paperwork IS the bane of all existence…"

Although Konoha was preparing in every way possible for the unknown future, there was no way they could have been prepared for what would happen in two weeks.

 **With Erza**

There were not many things that could unsettle Erza Scarlet. As the strongest female mage of Fairy Tail, she had quite a reputation, not to mention that she could make Natsu and Gray shut up with but a glance. However, there's a first time for everything. The existence of speaking animals was not that surprising for Erza, considering that she had known the flying and talking cat Happy since the day of his birth. But this…

Erza couldn't help but feel like she was in a fairytale when she saw the nature on Myobokuzan for the first time. The plants were all several times larger than they normally should be, and not only the plants were oversized. Erza remembered how she had almost attacked a huge toad that had landed in front of her, and the old toad who had introduced himself as Fukusaku. Only the fact that Erza was still wounded, and the surprise when the huge orange toad (he even wore a blue jacket!) started talking, stopped her in her tracks. Thus it took the scarlet haired sorceress a while to notice that the old toad was talking to her.

"Erza, Erza. … Erza!"

The Titania's thoughts immediately stopped thinking about ridiculously large toads, and simply accepted them for now. Only absentmindedly, the scarlet sorceress noted that the toad had adopted a more familiar honorific.

"Eh, yes?"

The old toad chuckled. It wasn't that surprising to see their guest this confused. Many ninja had troubles to grasp the concept of summonings without freaking out.

"I said that now that you've met Gamakichi here, you could accompany him to meet Naruto-chan. I can imagine that you have a lot of questions for him. Oh, and please don't fight. Naruto explained what happened, and I can promise you that everything is indeed a really unfortunate misunderstanding."

Erza only nodded. She indeed had many questions for the mysterious Maelstrom, and apparently she would finally get some answers. This didn't mean that she accepted the toad's explanation of everything being a misunderstanding, but since she was in an unknown and potentially hostile environment, she had to play by their rules. The red-haired mage turned to the toad who had been introduced as Gamakichi.

"Please lead the way."

Erza followed the giant toad in silence. She didn't know where her amphibian companion was leading her, but she noticed that the vegetation was getting scarcer and scarcer, until it vanished completely. Instead of flowers and plants, rocks and mountains covered the ground before her. To Erza's great surprise, the toad lead her to one of those mountains. Was there a cave or something like that hidden there? Gamakichi came to a halt and suddenly started shouting, slightly startling the S-Class Mage in the process.

"Oi, Naruto! The red headed chick finally woke up! Get down here!"

"'Down here'?" Erza looked up and her eyes went wide. On the very peak of one of the very spiky mountains sat Naruto, balancing on what looked like a quadratic stone board. Thanks to her keen eyesight, she could see how two birds had settled on the young man, who appeared to be in deep meditation. Just how could he balance up there?

"Damn, he doesn't hear me… Oh well, not my problem."

Erza turned her head towards Gamakichi when she heard his muttering. She only grew more confused when the large toad took a deep breath. Her confusion was replaced by astonishment when the jacket wearing amphibian shot a huge ball of water straight at the blonde warrior. A startled cry could be heard soon afterwards, and Erza and Gamakichi, the later one with a gleeful look on his face, watched as Naruto plummeted towards the ground. Very fast. With his head first. Too stunned to react, the scarlet haired mage winced when Naruto's head made contact with the ground, the impact creating a huge dust cloud. The Fairy Tail Mage turned towards her toad companion, who was still looking extremely amused.

"What the hell was that for? He might be seriously hurt after falling down from such heights! We have to help him!"

Gamakichi only looked at her, his amusement never leaving his face. "Nah, don't worry. There's hardly anything that can hurt him when he's in that state."

"In that state?" Erza repeated in confusion.

"Hey, Gamakichi, what the hell was that for?!"

Erza's head snapped towards the direction of the dust cloud. This voice! But how, no human should be able to withstand such a fall without proper preparations!

The dust finally settled down, and a completely unharmed Naruto walked towards the two newcomers. He was only clad in a pair of orange boxer shorts but one of the most noticeable thing she saw was his eyes. They were no longer the vibrant blue which she had seen at the end of their battle. No, they were once again golden, with rectangular slits and an orange coloring around them.

 _'_ _So that's what he meant with 'in this state'. I remember how he stopped my sword with his bare hands. I can see how a fall from such heights without taking damage.'_

Concentrating on the approaching blonde, Erza decided to ponder about the young man's abilities at another time.

"Oh, hey there. Glad to see that you're finally awake." Naruto greeted with a smile on his face, and Erza couldn't detect any falsehood in his words. He really WAS glad that she was awake. The blonde warrior didn't wait for Erza to say anything, and just continued to speak. "I was pretty worried when you fainted after the Reverse Summoning, but then again, who IS used to jumping between dimensions?"

Erza froze. Had he really just said that, or had her ears played a trick on her? Erza spoke very calmly, but it was all she could do to stop herself from outright shouting the question she had.

"What do you mean by 'jumping between dimensions'?"

Naruto's happy smile immediately dropped. Instead he looked quite nervous now.

"Eh, you see, about that…"

Back at the small house were Erza had first awoken, Fukusaku was enjoying a hot cup of tea with his wife Shima. After taking a sip, the elder toad let out a relieved sigh.

"Ah… Nothing beats a good cup of tea to relax."

His wife nodded in agreement before replying. "I wonder how things will play out with the girl Naruto brought with him. She really looks just like her."

Fukusaku nodded. "Ah, yes. Well, Gamakichi should have brought her to him by now."

Then a sudden cry of "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M STUCK HERE?!" could be heard all across Myobokuzan. Fukusaku nodded to himself.

"It looks like he just told her, and my, the girl has quite a set of lungs."

"I'll prepare an extra tasty feast for her. It'll help her handle the shock for sure." Shima said with a smile.

The bearded elder toad nodded. "You should do that, oh, and please prepare some bandages." Like on cue, a painful scream echoed across the home of the toads. "It appears that Erza has quite a temper as well."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Darkest Hour**

The two weeks had gone by quickly. Much too quickly in the opinion of many members of the magic guilds. The air was tense in the united camp of Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, and the army of the Magic Council. While the members of Blue Pegasus and Fairy Tail got along with each other easy enough, the soldiers of the magic council were pretty much as stuck up as they could get. A situation Natsu wasted no time to comment on.

"Man, I hate those guys. They act so high and mighty all the time, it really pisses me off!"

Natsu's rants were by now mostly ignored by his friends, who sat around a campfire with the Dragon Slayer. It was the last evening before the start of the operation.

"Natsu, just drop it. We get it by now. You've been telling us since we arrived here." Lucy answered with a tired voice. She didn't want to fight against other humans, but it looked like she didn't have a choice in that matter. As the blonde Celestial Spirit Mage looked around, she saw that many guild members looked like they shared her opinion.

Gray, meanwhile, tried to calm both of his friends down. He didn't want anyone to blow up because of the tension that had a firm grip on the camp. "She's right Natsu. We can't waste time to get angry because of the soldiers."

Natsu and Lucy just stared at the ice mage. It was Lucy who answered dryly. "… You certainly didn't waste any time taking off your clothes again."

Gray looked down at himself and had once again to admit that he had taken of his clothes without knowing it. "Shit! I did it again! … Oh well, it's warm tonight, I can sleep like this easily."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She was used to her friends' antics by now, but it didn't mean she didn't want to bang her head against a wall sometimes because of them. As the blonde girl looked around to see who was still awake, her eyes caught sight of two people that sent shivers down her spine.

"Hey guys, do you see those two guys with the black cloaks over there?" She whispered to Natsu and Gray, before all three of them sent unsuspicious glances at the two mentioned figures who were sitting near the tent of the commander of the magic council's army. They couldn't see any defining features due to the cloaks which covered them from head to toe.

Lucy rubbed her arms absentmindedly as if she wanted to warm herself against the chilling presence those two seemed to emit. "Those two are really creepy for some reason. Who are they anyway? They don't belong to Blue Pegasus, but they don't look like soldiers either…"

"I heard that they're specialists of the magic council sent to break the illusion surrounding the forest." A new voice said.

The three turned around to see a familiar sight of long, silver hair. "Mira!" Lucy exclaimed, happy to see that the S-Class Mage had finally fully recovered from the battle against Maelstrom and his friend two weeks ago. The exhaustion had been worse than expected due to Mirajane's unstable condition before the fight, yet she had managed to get her back on her feet, fully recovered and ready for battle.

"You mean those guys are support? They look so creepy…" Lucy continued.

Mirajane smiled at her friend. "Yeah, I get this really strange feeling too, but as long as they do their job we shouldn't complain. We need to break this illusion if we want to free Erza."

Everyone at the campfire nodded seriously. They had to free Erza at any cost. Who knows what those Konoha bastards might do to her!

"Just wait for us, Erza! We're coming to save you!" Natsu thought, his eyes full of determination.

Night soon fell over the campsite, with the only source of light being the brightly shining moon. Many people looked at it, for sleep wouldn't come to them this night. Who could blame them? A lot of them wished that the next day would never come, but sadly, this wish remained unanswered. The next day would come.

 **At Konoha**

In Konoha, the situation was just as tense. The scouts had of course noticed the camp outside of the forest, but with their limited numbers, a preemptive strike would be nothing but suicide. In his office at the Hokage Tower, Kakashi was contemplating their next step. As long as the illusions of the forest remained, they were safe. However, if they were to fall they'd face something akin to the Sound/Sand invasion all over again, and there was no guarantee that it would end as well as last time. The Hokage rose from his seat and turned towards the window, looking at the brightly shining moon. Absentmindedly he touched his left eye with his left hand.

"I may have to use this sooner than expected. Sensei… I won't let you down. I'll protect this village just like you and all the Hokage before me did. After all, Naruto can't take over as the Hokage if there's no village left, right?

There was no answer to the man's silent words, and yet he felt like his sensei was there with him.

"Sai!"

With no audible sound the ANBU operative appeared in the Hokage's office, respectfully on his knee.

"You called, Lord Hokage?"

"Give the order to prepare the troops and ANBU. I have a feeling that we'll get a visit soon."

"Understood, Lord Hokage." Without any further ado, the ever-smiling boy vanished. Kakashi simply continued to look at the moon, as if it held the answers to all his questions.

 _'_ _Naruto… hurry up. Konoha needs you.'_

Where was Naruto?

 **With Naruto**

At another place, far, far away from home, two more people were watching the moon as it illuminated the starless sky. The two of them sat side by side on an oversized flower, a comfortable silence accompanying them.

"Hey, Erza…"

"What is it, Naruto?"

"Do you think it will work? I really hope we can convince everybody, but it seems kinda hopeless."

A light chuckle escaped the woman's lips. "I never expected you to brood like this. It's strange to see you so somber."

The first voice kept silent, but it was clearly visible that the blonde young man was pouting. The crimson haired woman put her left hand on the right shoulder of the man she had called Naruto and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I'm going to help you, remember? That's what friends are for, right?"

These words caused a smile to blossom on the blonde's face. He raised his left hand and put it on the hand of the woman, returning the gesture.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Erza."

The two friends continued to sit on the flower for a while longer. The path before them was a harsh and stony one, but they had promised each other to brave it nonetheless, and neither one of them was a person to go back on their word.

Everything had its opposite. Like the moon had the sun, for every person wishing for peace while gazing at the moon, there was one who wished for harm while looking at the night sky. In Naruto's and Erza's case it was one Hoshigaki Kisame, the strongest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. The blue-haired monster of a man stared at the moon with something akin to hunger in his eyes. On his right shoulder rested the hilt of his sword, the mighty Samehada, and that wasn't all. Something else was hanging over the blade of the sword, or rather, someone. The person was tall and had dark skin and appeared to be in pretty bad shape, if the numerous bloody gashes that adorned the person's body were any indication. Yet Kisame ignored the person, his entire focus concentrated on a swirl that was slowly appearing in front of him.

"So the party's finally starting, eh? About time… I was getting bored."

And thus the Monster of The Hidden Mist departed to lands unknown to almost all shinobi of the Elemental Nations, taking his mysterious 'package' with him.

 **With Lahar**

"Begin the operation."

The voice of Commander Lahar was cold and harsh as he ordered the two black clad men to start the barrier destruction. The gathered mages all looked tense and nervous. The moment the illusion fell, they would charge through the forest into Konoha. They had been told to take prisoners, but only if the chance arose. It had been coated in nice words, but essentially the magic council wanted the mages to slaughter everyone who bore the mark of Konoha. It was a sickening thought for the mages who had sworn to protect every life, no matter whom it belonged to, but they couldn't refuse the council's orders without being charged for treason. The only ones who had no trouble with this were the soldiers dispatched by the council, but this was no surprise for the gathered mages.

Lucy and her friends looked anxiously at the two men in black, as their hands formed strange signs at blinding speeds before slamming them into the air in front of them. At first nothing happened, and Lucy wondered what they had tried to accomplish with this little stunt. After a few seconds, however, the entire forest before them began to splinter like a broken mirror.

The cracks in the air ran around the entire forest and up into the air, as if a large dome of glass had been placed over the forest and was now breaking.

"It is done." The taller one of the two cloak wearing men said.

Commander Lahar only nodded. "Begin the attack! Let us free the world from Konoha's evil grasp!"

Lahar ignored the cheers of the soldiers and continued to speak. "Mages of Fairy Tail! Remember your role! You will charge through the forest and attack Konoha's stronghold directly while we distract their soldiers! Do not fail us!"

The mages of Fairy Tail didn't look too happy about their mission, but they were indeed the strongest of the three present forces and used to working together. All their discomfort had to be ignored for now.

"CHARGE!"

The war had begun.

 **With Yamato**

The serenity of the forest was broken by the countless murmurs of the mages that crept through the trees. They were trying as hard as possible to remain quiet, but unlike the shinobi they were trying to attack, they had little experience in such things. Therefore it was quite easy for the ANBU to spot them. The allied mages only noticed that something was wrong when suddenly cries of pain cut through the eerie silence of the forest.

"We're under attack!" A soldier of the magic council shouted just before he was silenced by a well-aimed throwing knife. But these warriors hadn't been chosen for nothing. Only a few moments after the initial surprise, magic barriers flared up and stopped the thrown weapons.

The barrage of kunai stopped, and the silence returned. This time however, it was a tense silence. Then, without making a single sound, the forces of Konoha arrived. They stood on the branches of trees, behind large bushes and sometimes even at the side of the trees without holding to them. Wrapped in black uniforms with white face masks they were a truly imposing sight, especially since they were completely silent. Just like ghosts.

One person was different though. Instead of the black attire everyone seemed to wear he was clad in a green vest and dark blue pants. Brown hair and a strange headgear framed his face, and the mages of Fairy Tail that had been present at the fight in Magnolia City immediately recognized him as one of 'Maelstrom's' companions.

"You!" Natsu exclaimed angrily and attempted to charge through the shields only to be held back by Gray.

"Mages of Fiore!" The man shouted with a commanding voice.

"I am Yamato of Konoha! This was a warning! Withdraw immediately! Any other action will be deemed an act of war and bring the full might of Konoha upon you!"

Yamato's eyes were cold and unforgiving as he stared at the allied mages. Commander Lahar stepped forward to say something, but to everyone's surprise he was interrupted by none other than Makarov. The voice of the old master betrayed the barely controlled fury that he felt.

"You have the audacity to accuse us of an act of war? You, who slaughtered countless of our friends and comrades, does your arrogance know no bounds? Your folly shall end this day, and your entire guild with you!"

Makarov slowly stepped outside of the barrier, everyone close to him either stepping aside on their own or being pushed aside by the pure magic power that began to swirl around the third master of Fairy Tail.

Yamato immediately realized that the old man was up to something. The sixth sense that had been honed by his years of service for the ANBU was screaming at him to get away when he saw how Makarov crossed his arms.

"Take cover!" Was all he shouted to the gathered ANBU, but even with Yamato's timely warning, the result was still devastating.

"Giant Surge."

For everyone and everything in front of the guild master, the world turned white. There was no other way to describe the huge beam of pure light that slammed through the forest trees, evaporating them in its path and finally hitting the gates of Konoha. For a moment, it looked like the sturdy gates would survive the unexpected assault, but after a short moment of struggling, the gates fell as well, along with a sizeable portion of the wall they had been set in.

No one said anything after this display of power. The mages from Fairy Tail were once again reminded just why Makarov was indeed their master. The army of the council was awestruck, humbled by the strength this small old man wielded.

As for the Konoha shinobi… they too were amazed and a little frightened by the power Makarov had displayed.

"This strength… It looked just like the Nine Tails'…" Yamato muttered. He remembered only too well how Naruto had unleashed a similar attack on Orochimaru more than one year ago. To see such strength displayed by a human was more than enough to proof that Makarov was at least as strong as any Kage of the Elemental Nations. The Mokuton user was jarred out of his thoughts when he heard the commander of the enemy forces shout new orders to his soldiers.

"The path is clear! Use this chance and advance to Konoha! Everyone, charge!"

Cursing himself for letting his guard down, Yamato and his fellow ANBU soon found themselves being overrun by the mages of Fiore.

"Damn! Don't let them pass! We must protect Konoha at any cost!" Yamato shouted while forming handsigns at a blinding speed. Jumping down from his tree Yamato landed in front of a large group of mages and placed his hands on the ground.

"Wood Style: Great Forest Creation!"

As soon as the words left his lips, roots began to emerge from the ground. The earth shook and crumbled as large trees freed themselves from their earthen prison, rebuilding the forest that had been destroyed by Makarov's attack in but a moment.

Commander Lahar's eyes widened at this. "So this is how the 'Forest of Haze' came to be… To think that Konoha had such a powerful Wood Alchemy Mage amongst their ranks..."

Yamato's expression was grim. While he had managed to repair the forest, half of the enemy troops had already broken through the first line of Konoha's defense, thus Yamato had only one option to stop the remaining forces. Once again, his hands came together, and this time the technique he used would entrusted the fate of Konoha to his comrades still in the village.

"Wood Style: Tree Wall Barrier!"

The gigantic trees came alive and shot their branches towards each other, interweaving with each other until they formed a solid wall of thick branches. Some of less fortunate magic users that stood too close to the wall had been attacked by the branches, as if the forest had its own will.

Yamato turned towards Commander Lahal and the rest of his forces.

"No one will get past this wall, neither your troops nor our reinforcements."

The normally calm façade of the bespectacled Lahar turned cold at these words.

"So you willingly sacrificed yourself and your men to stop us? How foolish. It doesn't matter if only half of the troops managed to get inside, after all, Fairy Tail and most of my men made it inside. I doubt that anyone of your pitiful dark guild can stand up to the might that is Master Makarov. The remaining soldiers of my forces and the mages of Blue Pegasus will be more than enough to eliminate you and your subordinates. We will take care of your wood magic afterwards."

Yamato's answer was to settle into a fighting stance.

"Do not underestimate Konoha! You are not the only one who has excellent fighters on their side!"

With battle cries from both sides the forces clashed anew, but at this point no one could have foreseen the outcome of this battle.

After the confrontation with Yamato and the ANBU, most of the members of Fairy Tail were on their way to the gates that had been destroyed by Makarov only moments ago. The soldiers that had been lucky enough to accompany them before the forest sealed itself were coordinating themselves as well as they could without any way to contact their commander.

"There's the wall! Let's do this guys!"

Natsu's eager shout wasn't filled with its usual excitement. While he was definitely determined to fight, it wasn't just for the thrill of battle. He was here to rescue Erza. He was so focused on his objective that he was caught quite off guard when suddenly; two giants appeared apparently out of nowhere and sent their gigantic fists down on them.

 **With Kakashi**

Kakashi sighed heavily as he surveyed the beginning battle. He hated to admit it, but he had underestimated the mages of Fiona a little. He hadn't expected them to unleash an attack of such a caliber right off the bat. And now the gates were broken and their second line of defense destroyed.

"At least Yamato managed to reduce their numbers significantly." Kakashi thought. "And by the looks of it positioning the Akimichi clan at the entrance was also a good idea. But we can't let our guard down even one moment. We're outnumbered and low on resources. Our enemy has too many advantages for my liking."

Although no sound was made, Kakashi was not surprised when one of his ANBU guards appeared kneeling on the floor, his head bowed.

"Lord Hokage," The masked man said respectfully. "The preparations are done. We can move out now."

Kakashi nodded. "Very well. It's time to see whether my special training has paid off or not."

With a single movement he discarded his white robes. The outfit he wore under it couldn't give many shinobi back in the Elemental Nations nightmares. The reason for this was because almost no one had lived long enough to describe it when he had worn it back in his days as ANBU agent.

Clad in a black bodysuit and white ANBU armor, the Sixth Hokage of Konoha was ready for war.

 **With Natsu**

Natsu cursed as he ran through the mostly empty streets of Konoha. He had been separated from his friends after the attack from those two freakishly large guys and was all alone now. They hadn't expected someone besides Master Makarov to use Titan magic so well. It wasn't that Natsu minded being separated from the others; he could look out for himself and knew that the others could as well, but without Happy he couldn't get a clear view of the city and thus the places where Erza might be.

"Erzaaaaaa! Where are youuuuu?" Natsu shouted as he ran through the streets, ignoring the occasional explosions around him. His friends were strong; they could deal with these Konoha flunkies for sure!

Natsu was so caught up in his shouting that he almost missed an incoming attack, and only narrowly dodged a powerfully swung staff with a backwards flip. When Natsu landed again, he immediately looked for the attacker and was surprised to find a young boy standing in front of him, firmly holding a black battle staff in his hands.

"I won't let you take even one more step in Konoha, you damn mage! How dare you guys attack our village! I, Konohamaru, future Hokage will drive you out of Konoha with my own hands!"

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the young boy who had introduced himself as "Konohamaru" Both the mage and the ninja had the same eyes. Eyes that were burning with determination.

"Listen up squirt," Natsu said, his voice filled with barely restrained anger. "I don't care about what you want to do; I'm here for two things: one, to save Erza, and two, to kick you Konoha bastards' asses for attacking our friends!"

Konohamaru replied just as fiercely. "What do you mean 'attacking your friends', you idiot? You guys are attacking us! We just want to be left alone, but apparently you guys just don't get that! … And who the hell is Erza?"

"Shut up!" Natsu shouted, his expression turning dangerously feral. "It was you guys who wouldn't stop attacking guilds! And that stupid Naruto guy abducted Erza, so where is she?"

Suddenly Konohamaru's staff was only inches away from Natsu's face again as the young shinobi had closed the gap between them in an instant.

"Don't talk about the boss like that! And leave our village alone, damnit!"

Natsu managed to avoid the strike yet again by bending backwards and immediately used the chance to deliver a swift kick to Konohamaru's unprotected torso. In the last moment he shinobi managed to shift his staff in the path of Natsu's kick, blocking the powerful attack. However, Konohamaru didn't expect the leg suddenly to be engulfed by fire, which caused a small explosion between the two fighters and sent Konohamru flying.

"Fire Dragon's Talons!"

Natsu stood up again and looked for his opponent. The smoke from the explosion and the dust from Konohamaru's impact had created a small smokescreen, something Natsu didn't like one bit. The reason for this became all too clear when suddenly, a strange noise came from somewhere inside the smokescreen. Natsu managed to locate the rough direction where the sound came from, only to see two Konohamaru standing in the clearing dust. Whatever they were holding in their hands, it was the origin of the strange sound and definitely not good.

"Rasengan!" Konohamaru shouted and charged Natsu. The young shinobi would show this stupid mage! He would protect Konoha until Naruto returned home.

As Natsu saw Konohamaru charging at him, he chose that the best way around this technique, which apparently had to be used in closed combat, was to attack from a distance.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

A huge fireball erupted from Natsu's mouth and headed directly towards Konohamaru and his clone. The shinobi's eyes widened. He couldn't possibly dodge this attack at this distance and due to the Rasengan in his hand he couldn't use any other technique right now. So Konohamaru did the only thing he could think of.

He struck Natsu's fireball with his Rasengan.

A huge explosion shook the area and engulfed both fighters in its deadly embrace.

 **With Lucy**

"Why meeeee?"

This very desperate, and very girly scream belonged to none other than Lucy Heartfilia, as she ran through a deserted street. Why she was running away? The answer to this question was probably the huge swarm of black bugs that was currently following her, and slowly closing in. Mages she could take. Monsters as well. But an army of horrible insects? No. Fucking. Way.

"'Why?' you ask? This is a very strange question. The answer should be obvious."

Lucy's heart skipped a beat when she suddenly heard a very calm voice coming from all around her. She frantically looked around to find the origin of the voice which continued to speak while the bugs kept… bugging her.

"Why? Because you and your friends attacked our home. My allies and I will not tolerate this."

From the mass of bugs a lone figure emerged. The Celestial Spirit Mage could hardly see his face due to the hooded jacket and high collared shirt, which together with his sunglasses covered almost the entire face of the bug-user.

Lucy swallowed hard. This guy meant serious business, but she couldn't give up before the fight even started. She was a mage of Fairy Tail!

With her confidence renewed, Lucy drew her Celestial Spirit Keys.

 **With Team Shadow Gear**

In the midst of Konoha, Team Shadow Gear was busy staying alive. Although they were known for their teamwork it had soon become clear that the Konoha mages had it too. In spades.

"Let's check out the area over there. We should try to catch a little breath." Levy suggested.

Her quite exhausted team members wholeheartedly agreed, and approached the large compound Levy had pointed to. It looked really spacious, almost like a little village on its own, and should provide them with enough cover for the three of them to regain at least some of their energy. However, the moment the three stepped through the gates of the compound, their plans were thwarted by a voice that stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Halt! You filthy mages, how dare you try enter the compound of this noble clan in its absence!"

To Team Shadow Gear's great surprise the voice belonged to a young girl probably not older than Wendy that proceeded to jump in front of them from a nearby rooftop. Long brown hair framed her furious face and pale, pupil-less, that eyes glared at the trio of mages with an intensity that made them a little nervous, despite the fact that she was just one little girl.

"In the name of the Hyuga Clan I cannot let you get away with this insult!" The girl shouted and shifted into a martial arts like combat stance.

"Now, now, calm down little one," Droy said. "We don't want to hurt youuuu!"

The last word turned into a surprised shout when the little girl suddenly launched herself at Droy and began to unleash a flurry of strikes against the plant-user, slowly pushing him back. Unfortunately, Droy made the mistake of underestimating his young opponent, and decided to block one of her strikes with his left arm. After all, how much could it hurt? The answer was: a lot.

"Holy shit, this hurts!" Droy exclaimed, while nursing his now limping left arm.

"Droy!" Jet shouted and rushed towards his friend, his God's Leg magic blazing alive. He tried to kick the girl from behind so she would have to stop her attacks on Droy. To Jet's great shock however, the girl spun around and blocked the kick by bringing both her arms in a cross-guard. While it hadn't worked like planned the brown haired girl still had been forced to stop her attacks.

"How did she know that I was going to attack her…?" Jet muttered incredulously.

The girl meanwhile continued to stare at them with her pupil-less eyes… Eyes that were now surrounded by thick veins.

"Impossible! Is that eye magic? But she's so young!" Levy said in surprise, while taking position next to her two friends. One thing had become crystal clear: they had underestimated the girl.

"My name is Hanabi. Hanabi of the Hyuga Clan." The girl proclaimed and settled into her combat stance again. "And I shall show you why you mages will never take Konoha as long as my clan resides within these walls!"

 **With Natsu**

The whole street looked like Fairy Tail had used it to hold an impromptu party for three days straight, and considering how those usually ended, it was no surprise that the largest piece of rubble in the street was about as large as a fist. Everything else was… in various places. From one particularly large mountain of said rubble however a voice could be heard.

"Ouch… that hurt a little."

Natsu rose from the remains of various buildings like a phoenix from its own ashes. Well, at least Natsu looked like he had been buried in ashes. Coughing a little the Dragon Slayer looked around. His clothes were dirty and his body a little bruised, but besides that he was still in a fairly good condition.

"That exploding ball thing sure caught me by surprise." Natsu muttered to himself. "Good thing I'm fire-resistant. But where did the brat go?"

Konohamaru definitely had gotten the short end of the stick when his and Natsu's attack had collided. While the pink haired mage was impervious to flames, Konohamaru was not. The young shinobi was badly hurt and half buried under a pile of rubble. The Fire Dragon Slayer winced a little when he saw how badly the unconscious young boy had been hurt. Sure, they were enemies, but Natsu didn't like beating up younger children, no matter the reason. He had only wanted to protect his home, something Natsu could easily relate to. Thus Natsu didn't have to think for long when he freed the young boy and placed him against a still intact wall.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure a medic or someone else will find you."

They had been ordered to eliminate the Konoha mages. But Natsu didn't care. Someone who was willing to fight so fervently for his friends couldn't be that much of a bad guy. Natsu took off without looking back. He had to find Erza before things got worse.

 **With Levy**

In another part of Konoha, Hanabi soon was forced to realize that while she might have been able to defeat one of the guys in a one-on-one fight, the girl was an entirely different story. Not only was she far stronger than the other two, but as a team their power was greater than the sum of its parts. Since Hanabi had used up the element of surprise she was no longer getting underestimated. Her Byakugan had helped her to avoid the attacks that kept coming from all sides, but now her energy was running low. Things didn't look good for the daughter of the clan head.

Levy's voice was almost pleading as she spoke. It was really hurting her to see a little girl fighting them with such fervor. "Come on, Hanabi was it? Please give up. We don't want to fight children, let alone hurt them. So please, just surrender."

Hanabi glared at the three mages, the veins around her eyes still bulged. "Never! On my pride as a member of the Hyuga Clan and Shinobi of Konoha I cannot surrender!" She declared.

Levi was confused. "Member of the Hyuga Clan" she could understand, but what did she mean with "shinobi"?

"Shinobi? What do you mea – "

The word using mage never got the chance to finish her sentence, because suddenly a blur appeared in front of her and her friends. With three lighting fast strikes to their midsections, Team Shadow Gear was knocked back and sent to their knees. While their lungs felt like they were on fire, a new voice spoke up.

"You mages truly have no honor. Three grown mages attacking one young girl? Despicable."

The trio slowly raised their heads to get a look at the newcomer. Their bodies felt like lead by now. They had already been exhausted before even entering the compound and fighting the little girl without seriously harming her had not been kind to their energy reserves. And then this guy had popped up, and this one strike he had delivered hurt more than all those attacks the girl had unleashed upon them combined.

Pale eyes burned with cold fury and pierced the very souls of Team Shadow Gear with their intensity. Neji Hyuga had arrived.

"For even daring to strike Hanabi, I, Neji Hyuga, shall not let you escape."

 **With Gray**

"Fang Over Fang!"

"Ice Make: Wall!"

With a loud crack, the wall of ice cracked and broke, but it had served its purpose. The two identical looking warriors had been stopped, much to their annoyance.

"Stop hiding behind those stupid walls you bastard!" One of them shouted.

Gray smirked at his opponent's enraged tone. True, he was outnumbered, and his opponents were a perfect team, but they relied too much on their attack power. The brown haired boy actually reminded Gray actually a little of Natsu. Loud, brash and headstrong and not too bright. Oh, and a lot less powerful.

"Sorry, but I don't have the time to play with you and your dog. How about I finish this now?" Gray suggested mockingly. He didn't like playing the cocky bastard, but in this case it helped him to get under his opponent's skin.

And just as Gray had expected it, the beast-like mage could get even angrier.

"What do you mean 'play'? You bastards are too afraid to fight us directly, that why you always hide behind those stupid walls! One clean hit from me and you're finished!"

Kiba was really angry at the moment. He had underestimated the ice-user and paid for it. Kiba just hoped that no one had seen him when he had jumped into one of those stupid walls face-first…

Gray just kept smirking. "Is that so? Well, you're welcome to try."

"That I will you damn icicle! Take that!" Kiba shouted before turning towards Akamaru. "You ready to bring out the big one?"

Akamaru let out a bark in response before Kiba preformed a hand sign. "Beast Mimicry!" Kiba shouted, which caused both Kiba and Akamaru to be covered in a cloud of smoke.

Gray couldn't help but feel a bit worried when the smoke cloud grew larger in size. His eyes widen in shock by what he saw when the smoke cloud had disappeared. "W-Whoa…" Gray muttered when he saw what.

In its place was a very large white dog with two heads and a look of fury in its eyes. The large dog let out a growl before charging towards Gray, causing the ice mage to react quickly to this. "Ice Make: Wall!" Gray shouted as a large, thick wall of ice appeared in front of him.

However, the beast never stopped charging but soon created a tunneling fang and once it made contact against the ice wall, it had easily broke through. "Oh crap." Gray muttered before jumping out of the way and landing on one of the building's roof. His eyes widen when he saw how much damage that attack did when it broke through his ice wall and destroyed a few of the buildings before stopping.

The large dog then turned around and growled at Gray once he saw him.

Gray couldn't help but chuckle lightly when he saw this. "Well seems like this is going to be harder than I thought." Gray muttered before getting into his Ice Make stance.

 **With Gajeel**

It was utter pandemonium in the streets of Konoha. Gajeel cursed as he ran past destroyed buildings, ignoring the screams of wounded. Gajeel was still in a pretty good condition, but without the iron he had found and eaten, he'd definitely have run out of energy a by now. The most dangerous thing about the Konoha mages, in his opinion, wasn't their variety of abilities since they tended to be weaker compared to those of a specialized mage. No, it was their teamwork that made them so dangerous. It didn't matter if most of the Fairy Tail mages were individually stronger than the bulk of the Konoha mages since they worked together in a way that caught most mages off guard. It was almost scary. They were like a well-oiled machine of destruction.

Gajeel's thoughts about teamwork were interrupted by a scream he immediately recognized.

 _'_ _Levy! Shit! Can those two dimwits of her teammates do nothing right?'_

With his sharp hearing it was no trouble for Gajeel to locate the area the scream had come from, and so it took him not even two minutes to reach the gates of a large compound. What the Iron Dragon Slayer saw when he reached the gates made him both freeze and his blood boil at the same time.

Before him stood one of the fighters that had invaded Magnolia. He remembered him clearly; he had been the one who had deflected Natsu's and his combined Dragon Roar attack. And now the same man stood over the bloodied and beaten bodies of Team Shadow Gear. The man's pupil-less stare met his own.

"Hanabi… please retreat immediately." Neji said as he eyed the newcomer. Gajeel blinked in surprise but quickly caught himself again. He hadn't even noticed the little girl behind the longer haired man at first.

When Hanabi nodded weakly and ran off ,their eyes locked again, both of them thinking exactly the same thing.

"This guy… is strong."

This wouldn't be an easy battle. For either of them.

 **Omake: Troble in Paradise**

Erza stared at the sight before her.

"C'mon Erza-chan, I know it's hard the first time, but you promised you'd try." Naruto said encouragingly.

The red-head looked at the guy she had been trying to kill a short while back.

"I know I promised, but it's just looks so big and slimy… I'll have to gag for sure."

Naruto sighed. "Believe me. I know what you're going through. I still remember how I tried it for the first time and I'm still not used to it."

Erza sighed heavily. "I guess I'll give it a try… Not like I have much of a choice, right?"

Erza opened her mouth wide and hesitantly placed the object in question on her tongue. After a bit of struggling on her part, she swallowed with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Slimy yet… satisfying." She said after a short while.

Naruto beamed at her. "There, it isn't that bad, right? I know that ramen is better, but my rations are almost all used up, so we can't eat it every day."

The look that Erza gave her host clearly said that eating ramen every day wasn't all that better. "Two weeks of nothing but ramen and worms… What did I do to deserve this?" She muttered.

Naruto simply shrugged. "I gave up figuring that out a long time ago."

 **Omake End**


	7. Adoption

This is not an update, and I have unfortunate news for you all. I've lost interest in writing as I can't find myself to write any more chapters. So there's only one thing I can do, put this story up for adoption. If you're interested in the story, then please PM, and we'll discuss more.


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